Que se la llevaron! 1796 - 1797

"Que se la llevaron!"—or "They Carried Her Away!"—was made by Francisco Goya through etching, aquatint, and drypoint. These printing processes have a long history, stretching back to the Renaissance. It's a labor-intensive technique. An etcher painstakingly covers a metal plate with wax, then draws through the wax to expose the metal, which is then bathed in acid to bite the lines. The aquatint creates tonal areas, where the acid bites around particles of resin to create subtle shading. Drypoint involves scratching directly into the plate, creating a burr that holds ink. The grainy texture of the aquatint gives this print its nightmarish quality. Goya's "Los Desastres de la Guerra" series, to which this print belongs, are considered by many to be the first truly modern depictions of war. The series does not heroize anyone, or ennoble military conflict. Instead, Goya used these traditional techniques to create a radically new anti-war statement. Here, craft becomes a powerful means to challenge conventional attitudes, showing that the means of production are never neutral, but always implicated in wider social and political issues.