Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
Spanish, 1746-1828
Truth has died, plate 79 from The Disasters of War
INV-1249
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
Spanish, 1746-18281815/20, published 1863
Truth has died, plate 79 from The Disasters of War
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes Spanish, 1746-1828 →etchingprint
Date
1815/20, published 1863
Medium
Etching and burnishing on ivory wove paper with gilt edges
Dimensions
Image: 14.5 × 18.2 cm (5 3/4 × 7 3/16 in.); Plate: 17 × 21.5 cm (6 3/4 × 8 1/2 in.); Sheet: 24 × 33.5 cm (9 1/2 × 13 1/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of J. C. Cebrian
Though not the last plate of the series, this print finalizes its central themes in a profound manner, claiming that truth itself is dead. Here, personified by a shining corpse about to be buried, truth connotes constitutional liberty. Justice is featured at the right, clasping her scales in her left hand. She covers her face, perhaps weeping, as if she cannot bear the scene before her. By ending the series on this note of despair, Francisco de Goya brought an answer to the question of what must come to pass (plate one)—the final blow of war is that truth is dead and justice despondent.
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