# And they are like wild beasts, plate five from The Disasters of War

- By: Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746-1828)
- Date: 1812/15, published 1863
- Medium: Etching, burnished aquatint, and drypoint on ivory wove paper with gilt edges
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: Image: 13.4 × 18.3 cm (5 5/16 × 7 1/4 in.); Plate: 15.5 × 20.8 cm (6 1/8 × 8 1/4 in.); Sheet: 24 × 33.8 cm (9 1/2 × 13 5/16 in.)
- Culture: Spain
- Credit line: Gift of J. C. Cebrian
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/124843)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/22b9a85b-eddd-458a-7e28-1fb6eb788711/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Even mothers are driven to violence, as this image depicts. A woman holds a child on her left hip, even as she thrusts a spear into a French soldier with her right arm. In the background, other women assault the enemy by various means or languish from their wounds. The striking juxtaposition of the maternal with violent aggression serves to communicate the desperate conditions of the Peninsular War.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0