Plate18 from ‘The Disasters of War’ (Los Desastres de la Guerra): ‘Bury them and keep quiet.’ (Enterrar y callar.)

Description

Bury Them and Keep Quiet shows the dead piled together while a standing figure brings hands to the face. The gesture gives the aftermath an immediate human response, contrasting with the title’s command for silence. Goya brings the necessary task of attending to death into a world where even grief is placed under pressure.

Etching, drypoint and burin give the print a varied surface of marks through which the event remains close to individual experience. The work’s force comes from the relationship between the dead and those left to act, with the title casting a shadow over their task. Its brief command refuses the comfort of a conventional memorial, leaving remembrance and enforced silence in unresolved tension.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Goya collection.