Plate 44 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'I saw it' (Yo lo vi)

Plate 44 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'I saw it' (Yo lo vi)

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

A controversial aspect of Goya’s graphic work is its alleged documentary value. The published edition of the present print (this is a proof impression before lettering) is inscribed "I saw it," most likely as a mark of authenticity, an assertion that it is inspired by actual events. Goya depicted a caravan of people fleeing their town, a then familiar occurrence, as citizens left in anticipation of the enemy’s arrival or fell under the occupying authority. He might have witnessed such events around the time of the second French assault on his hometown of Zaragoza, in late 1808, and in 1812, when he was living outside Madrid.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 44 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'I saw it' (Yo lo vi)Plate 44 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'I saw it' (Yo lo vi)Plate 44 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'I saw it' (Yo lo vi)Plate 44 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'I saw it' (Yo lo vi)Plate 44 from "The Disasters of War" (Los Desastres de la Guerra): 'I saw it' (Yo lo vi)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.