Plate 15 from ‘The Disasters of War’ (Los Desastres de la Guerra): ‘And there is nothing to be done.’ (Y no hai remedio.)

Description

In And there is nothing to be done, a bound, blindfolded man stands exposed before the weapons directed toward him. Francisco Goya’s And There Is Nothing to Be Done makes his lack of agency the central fact of the scene. Other bodies extend the violence beyond a single person, while the threatened figure remains heartbreakingly individual in his isolation.

Made in 1810 and published in 1863, the print is plate 15 of The Disasters of War. Etching, drypoint and burin give the encounter a severe clarity without the softening distance of an elaborate setting. Goya’s caption forecloses rescue rather than promising resolution. The image’s force comes from the contrast between a recognizable human body and the impersonal process surrounding it, leaving the viewer with the difficult responsibility of witnessing an event that offers no reassuring outcome.

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