3-100-768 - "Royal Academy of Arts, London"/Heritage Images

Se defiende bien, (It defends itself well), Plate 78, "Los Desastres de la Guerra", c1810, (published 1863). A white horse kicks out. On the left are mastiffs with iron-tipped collars to defend themselves against the wolves which are threatening to attack the horse. The dogs could refer to revolutionary ideals, while the wolves may symbolise the Inquisition, or the king's corrupt ministers. The horse could be an allusion to the monarchy, to liberal Spain, or to the Spanish people as in Picasso's 'Guernica' (1937). Although Goya did not make known his intention when creating the plates (made 1810-1815), art historians see them as a visual protest against the violence of the 1808 Dos de Mayo Uprising, the subsequent cruel war that ended in Spanish victory in the Peninsular War of 1808-1814, and the setbacks to the liberal cause following the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1814. The prints were not published until 35 years after Goya's death, probably because only then was it considered politically safe to do so. From "Los Desastres de la Guerra: colección de ochenta láminas inventadas y grabadas al agua fuerte por Don Francisco de Goya", (The Disasters of War: collection of eighty plates made and etched by Don Francisco de Goya), [Madrid, 1863].