painting, oil-paint
painting
oil-paint
figuration
oil painting
roman-mythology
romanticism
mythology
genre-painting
history-painting
grotesque
Dimensions 83 x 146 cm
A monstrous figure with a tangle of wild grey hair lurches into the picture frame. His eyes bulge, shockingly luminous against the suffocating black of the background. In his hands, he clutches the lifeless body of an infant. Blood seeps from his mouth. This is Saturn, the god of time, caught in the act of eating his child. đ± Francisco Goya (1746-1828) was a Spanish Romantic painter. He is best known for the late body of work now termed the Black Paintings, to which âSaturn Devouring One of His Sonsâ (1823) belongs. The Black Paintings are a series of 14 works originally painted directly onto the walls of Goyaâs house near Madrid. Following the artistâs death in 1828, the oil murals were discovered and transferred to canvas. The Black Paintings explore sombre and frightening themes, from dark magic and death to isolation and war. Alongside their disturbing subjects, the works are united by their murky colour palette. â«ïž This painting, now known as âSaturn Devouring One of His Sonsâ, was not originally titled by the artist and not intended to be seen by public eyes. It depicts the God of time, Saturn (also known as Cronus). In Greek and Roman mythology, Saturn ate his newborn children to prevent being overthrown by one of his sons â as was foretold in a prophecy. Ultimately, Saturnâs frenzied act backfired when the child Jupiter escaped and eventually murdered his father. đĄïž Here, the dark colour palette creates apprehension in the mind of the viewer. Thick brushstrokes reinforce the impression of intensity and violence. According to critics, the psychological terrors explored in this painting reflect both the social and personal turbulence experienced by Goya in the early nineteenth century. Could Goya, in his seventies at the time of painting this series, have been contemplating his own mortality and unsettled state of mind? Does this painting speak to the political unrest at the time of the Napoleonic Wars? How can the original private context of the work impact our interpretation of it? đ Editor: Lucy Jude Grantham
Comments
đ·In 1819, Francisco Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) bought a house west of Madrid called the Quinta del sordo ("Villa of the deaf man"). A previous owner of the house was deaf, and the name remained apt as Goya himself had lost his hearing in his mid-forties. The artist painted directly on to the plaster walls of the Quinta the series of psychologically brooding images popularly known as the "black" paintings (1819-23). They were not intended to be shown to the public, and only later were the pictures lifted from the Walls, transferred to canvas, and deposited in the Prado. The haunting Saturn ilustrates the myth of the Roman god Saturn, who, fearing that his children would overthrow him, ate them. Taking the myth as a starting point, the painting may be about God's wrath, the conflict between old age and youth, or Saturn as Time devouring all things. Goya, by then in his seventies and having survived two life-threatening illnesses, is likely to have been anxious about his own mortality. The artist may have been inspired by Rubens's Baroque portrayal of the myth, Saturn Devouring His Son (1636). Goya's version, with its restricted palette and looser style, is much darker in all senses. The god's wide-eyed stare suggests madness and paranoia, and disturbingly he seems unselfconscious in carrying out his horrific act. There is also evidence to show that in the original image Saturn had a partially erect phallus. In 1823 Goya moved to Bordeaux. After a brief return to Spain, he went back to France, where he died in 1828.
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