DUBLIN.- Francisco Goya’s The Disasters of War has been described as the greatest anti-war manifesto in the history of art. Chester Beatty Library in Dublin holds the entire series of 80 prints (from the second edition of 1892), which depict the horrors of Napoleon’s invasion of Spain and its aftermath. For the first time 40 of the prints are now on display at a special exhibition in the Library.

Goya catalogues the brutality of war and its consequences in a stark, unflinching manner. His realistic depictions of the horrors of war have influenced artists like Manet, Dali and Picasso as well as photojournalists who have striven to capture the reality of conflict. The prints, complete with ironic titles such as: What courage; The deathbeds; Against the common good, were not published until thirty five years after Goya’s death - only then was it considered politically safe to do so.

The Disasters of War series depicts the warfare, famine and political disillusionment which followed Napoleon Bonaparte’s invasion of Spain in 1808. Goya worked on the plates from 1810-20, and the series contains some of the most brutally graphic images of war ever produced. Each print has a short title, either given by Goya or taken from his notes, and these casual, sometimes ironic words serve to intensify the horrific scenes they represent.

The Disasters can be divided into three sections: the first shows the brutality of warfare, in which Goya employs an almost cinematic sense of narrative tension leading to shocking scenes of violence. The second depicts the famine in Madrid during the winter of 1811-12, in which over 20,000 people died. The final Caprichos bitterly satirise the ruling elite in Spain. It was due in part to the repressive regime of King Ferdinand V11 (1784-1833), which followed the Napoleonic War, that The Disasters of War was not finally published until 1863.

Goya spent most of his career in Madrid, where he worked as painter to the King and was best known for his incisive and unflatteringly direct portraits of the royal family and the court. His career coincided with the political upheavals of the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, which led to Goya working on a series of paintings and prints in which war and its consequences are explored with bitter intensity. A master draftsman and printmaker, each etching in Goya’s Disasters series is a compelling composition, created using sparse line combined with strong light and dark shadow.

The curator of the exhibition Dr Jill Unkel, Curator of the Western Collections, at Chester Beatty said that these powerful works still affect and shock audiences today. “Indeed, as a record of the atrocities of war, the etchings are often regarded as the predecessors of modern photo journalism. Though harrowing, Goya’s poignant observations of human suffering help mitigate the scenes of extreme violence,” Dr Unkel said.