After Vice Comes Fornication. © National Gallery of Scotland

Over 40 prints by the celebrated Spanish artist Francisco de Goya y Lucientes have gone on display at the National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh until February 25 2007.

Not seen for over 20 years the prints have been put on show to highlight the gallery’s extensive archive collection and to show one of the greatest permanent collections of Goya prints to the public.

Titled Matadors and Monsters, the exhibition shows that Goya, as well as being one of the first ‘modern’ painters, was also a pioneer of printmaking. Though he made some 300 prints in his lifetime these rare prints, made between 1810 and 1828, highlight his most interesting work, combining both etching and lithographic techniques.

An Heroic Feat! With Dead Men! (The Disasters Of War). © National Gallery of Scotland

The exhibition boasts works from Goya’s Disasters of War, Tauromaquia and the Proverbios (or Disparates) print series and offers an often-satirical commentary on this turbulent period of history.

His depictions of Napoleon’s conquest of Spain, the ensuing civil war and eventual liberation of the country by Wellington are very much like a form of war photojournalism with his prints the precursors to later photographic images.

Though fascinated by the war around him, prints highlighting Goya’s other interests with themes such as fornication, flight and bullfighting also on view in the exhibition. These often-violent images shocked many contemporary viewers with their depictions of the seamier side of life.

Where There’s A Will, There’s A Way (A Way Of Flying). © National Gallery of Scotland

Widely regarded as the last of the “old master” painters, Goya, born in 1746 was also famous for his depictions of the Spanish Royal family as well as other more disturbing works such as Saturn Devouring His Son.

Despite being lauded as the greatest painter of his generation, Goya, in later life fell out of favour with the Spanish court and eventually moved to France, where he died in 1828.