They Do Not Arrive in Time, plate 52 from The Disasters of War Possibly 1812 - 1863

Francisco Goya created this print, titled "They Do Not Arrive in Time," using etching, drypoint, burin and burnisher. The Disasters of War series is not painting, but printmaking, an inherently reproducible medium. This allowed Goya's images to circulate widely, carrying his message of protest far beyond the elite circles of Spanish society. The stark contrasts of light and shadow, achieved through the painstaking process of etching and aquatint, heighten the emotional impact of the scene. Look closely and you can see the dense network of lines, each one bitten into the metal plate by acid, then inked and pressed onto paper. Goya bore witness to the atrocities of war, and through printmaking, he transformed personal experience into a universal statement about human suffering. The immediacy of the medium, the way it translates the artist's hand directly onto the page, creates a powerful connection between Goya and the viewer, across centuries of time. This underscores how prints can belong to both art and craft, conveying powerful messages about social issues such as labor, politics, and consumption.