THE ART OF FRANCISCO de GOYA
SATURN DEVOURING ONE OF HIS SONS (1820) (ABOVE) This gruesome image is one of the famous "black paintings" that decorated Goya's house, the Quinta del Sordo - it hung in his dinning room. The god Saturn ate his sons because he was afraid that they might grow up to usurp him. The cruelty of the myth appealed to Goya, who loathed the irrationality of old age.
THE COLOSSUS (c.1808) (above) In the mist of war, a grim giant looms over fleeing crowds. Goya's terrifying vision was probably inspired by some lines written by a Spanish poet about the Napoleonic wars: "On a height above yonder cavernous amphitheatre, a pale Colossus rises, caught by the firey light of the setting sun".
TWO MAJAS ON A BALCONY (c.1811) (above) The "majas" were girls from the lower social classes who were renowned for their beauty, their alluring costumes and their flighty lifestyles. Goya shows these two seated on a balcony with their protectors, the "majos", lurking in the shadows behind. Majas and majos were notorious for their stormy and often violent love affairs.
THE THIRD OF MAY,1808 (c.1814)(above) By the eerie light of a large, square lantern, a group of Spanish insurgents are executed by the French forces occupying Madrid. A row of faceless soldiers, all in the same brutal attitude, take aim beneath the night sky. In the face of death, the condemned men react with a mixture of terror, defiance and despair. One covers his face, another clenches his fist, while a priest clasps his hands in prayer.
Goya focuses our attention on the man in their midst, who throws out his arms in a Christ-like gesture of martyrdom. The brilliant white of his shirt, caught by the rays of the lantern, is as arresting as a flash of lightning. To heighten the emotional impact, Goya has painted him much larger than the figures around him: he is kneeling, but if he stood up he would dwarf the firing squad.
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