Strange Devotion!, plate 66 from The Disasters of War Possibly 1815 - 1863

Francisco de Goya etched "Strange Devotion!" around 1814, a stark image rendered in drypoint and aquatint. The print is dominated by a muted palette, focusing attention on the composition's unsettling scene. A group of figures huddle in reverence before a donkey carrying a cage laden with human remains. The formal arrangement is striking. The bowed figures create a horizontal foreground, contrasting with the verticality of the donkey and its macabre cargo. Goya's use of line varies: delicate and precise in the figures' contours, scratchy and chaotic in the donkey's fur and cage construction. This textural contrast enhances the overall sense of unease. Goya challenges conventional notions of devotion, using the print's structure to question blind faith. The worshippers' submissive posture and the bizarre object of their veneration destabilize traditional religious iconography. Is Goya critiquing the irrationality of superstition or perhaps lamenting the loss of genuine spiritual meaning amidst the violence of war? The ambiguity is key to its enduring power. The formal elements of line and composition combine to create a visually arresting commentary on humanity's capacity for both profound belief and grotesque distortion.