Goya’s images of war atrocities were shocking and appalling to the audiences of his time, which isn’t surprising, since ‘war art’ in the early 19th century tended to consist of “generally heroic allegories, made to present a larger story of conquest and nobility through grand compositions and bold lighting.” But why should the same images still shock us today, in an age when wars are broadcast live on television? Could it be because contemporary art has simply never found a serious way to deal with the horror of war?