Plate 36 from ‘The Disasters of War’ (Los Desastres de La Guerra): ‘Not [in this case] either.’ (Tampoco.)

Description

In Not in This Case Either, Francisco Goya places a seated soldier beside a hanged man. The soldier rests his head against one hand and studies the body with unnerving composure. More hanging figures appear among trees farther back. The contrast between relaxed observer and exposed victim makes the foreground encounter more troubling than a distant view of violence could be.

Plate 36 of The Disasters of War continues a sequence questioning executions and their supposed justification. The title admits that this scene, too, defeats explanation. Goya uses open light behind the figures to suggest the repeated reach of the killing, while his close viewpoint makes indifference itself visible. The print condemns not only the act of execution but also the ease with which a person can contemplate another’s death without sympathy.

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