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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.
Ruinas del Seminario, Vistas por la noche... (Ruinas de Zaragoza) (Ruins of the Seminary, Seen at Night)
1812
Medium/Technique
Etching and aquatint
Dimensions
Trimmed to platemark: 44 x 54.4 cm (17 5/16 x 21 7/16 in.)
Credit Line
Bequest of Eleanor A. Sayre
Accession Number2002.487
NOT ON VIEW
CollectionsEurope, Prints and Drawings
ClassificationsPrints
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.
Catalogue Raisonné
Elena Páez Rios, Repertorio de Grabados Españolas en la Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid: Ministerio de Cultura, 1981, vol. 1, pp. 159-160, no. 3 [37 unnumbered plates listed].
ProvenanceEleanor A. Sayre (b. 1916 - d. 2001), Cambridge, MA; 2001 bequest to MFA, (Accession date: Oct. 23, 2002).