Desastres de la Guerra

An exclusive work created to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of Independence, a conflict that one of the greatest painters of the age, Francisco de Goya, depicted in his series Desastres de la Guerra (Disasters of War). A critical spectator of the age and of the war, Goya made a series of engravings in which he reflected his most profound thoughts. 

ARTIKA, in conjunction with the Fuendetodos Museum of Engraving, is publishing Goya’s most emblematic graphic work in a single, limited edition of 2,998 numbered copies. 

Presented in a velvet-lined tray, the facsimile reproductions of 80 prints, printed both front and back, are the central feature of Desastres de la Guerra, in which the artist turns the reader into a participant of the events that he witnessed at first-hand. 

Life in wartime Spain is reflected in the selection of texts from the book Testigos de una época (Witnesses of an age), which includes letters, proclamations, songs and advertisements from those times. 

In the Study Book, specialists on Goya’s engravings write on the graphic work itself and the author, analysing the prints, the methods used and the preparatory drawings, and explaining the artist’s creative process. 

As a final touch, the work includes a bronze plate embossed with Goya’s signature, as a small homage to the basic material the artist used for his engraving plates. 

All the elements in this unique piece come in a handmade box, lined with cotton cloth and with a self-portrait of the artist printed inside the box and an enlargement of his signature on the exterior.