3-101-582 - "Royal Academy of Arts, London"/Heritage Images

Gatesca pantomima, (Feline pantomime), Plate 73, "Los Desastres de la Guerra", c1810, (published 1863). A cat in profile is approached by an owl in flight that seems to be whispering something in its ear. Prostrating himself at the cat's feet, with a hood over his head, is a kneeling figure - is he begging it for mercy or worshipping it? The cat, possibly a symbol of cunning, is flattered by the friar who could allude to the Church. 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 produce a series of artworks criticising both the French and the restored Bourbons. 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].