He deserved it
1810 - 1814. Drypoint, Burnisher, Etching, Burin.Not on display
Disasters of War, 29, He Deserved it. There have been efforts to identify the concrete events depicted in this print, but as Lafuente Ferrari pointed out, there were so many that it may be easier to believe that Goya chose a more abstract presentation to represent events so frequent that they constituted one of the fatal consequences of the war. This desire for abstraction, or rather, for universalization, is manifest in the changes that took place when the drawing was turned into an engraving. The former is set in an urban context, with buildings in the background. In the latter, however, Goya eliminates all spatial references except for the earth in the foreground, which allows him to bring the action closer to the viewer. The figure dressed in white and pulling forcefully is looking at the victim, and our own gaze follows his along the tense rope he uses to raise the body and drag it by the feet (Text from: Matilla, J.M.: Lo merecía, in: Goya en tiempos de guerra, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2008, p. 316).
