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Ruinas del Seminario, Vistas por la noche... (Ruinas de Zaragoza) (Ruins of the Seminary, Seen at Night)

Ruinas del Seminario, Vistas por la noche... (Ruinas de Zaragoza) (Ruins of the Seminary, Seen at Night)

(Spanish, 1774–1847)
(Italian, active in Spain, 1763–1834)
1812
Medium/TechniqueEtching and aquatint
DimensionsTrimmed to platemark: 44 x 54.4 cm (17 5/16 x 21 7/16 in.)
Credit LineBequest of Eleanor A. Sayre
Accession number2002.487
On View
Not on view
ClassificationsPrints
Description

The Peninsular War, during which French Napoleonic troops invaded Spain, had disastrous consequences for cities such as Zaragoza. Galvez and Brambilla were official war artists sent from Madrid to document the ravages inflicted on the city. Aquatint was a relatively new method of creating broad areas of "tone" in an etching; the artists exploited it here to better evoke the profound darkness of night.

ProvenanceEleanor A. Sayre (b. 1916 - d. 2001), Cambridge, MA; 2001 bequest to MFA, (Accession date: Oct. 23, 2002).