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Saturn Devouring His Son

Greco-Roman Art

One of the fourteen so called Black Paintings the Spanish artist Francisco Goya painted directly onto the walls of his house, the Quinta del Sordo, in his final years, roughly 1819 to 1823, with no intention of public display or sale. It shows the Titan Saturn, gripping and consuming the corpse of one of his own children, the head and part of an arm already gone, his eyes wild and bulging. Ancient myth held that Saturn devoured each child at birth for fear one would overthrow him, and the image is widely read as an allegory of Spain's own convulsions of war and revolution consuming its people. After Goya's death the house passed to Baron Emile d'Erlanger, who in 1874 had the murals transferred from plaster to canvas, a process that damaged some of the paint, before donating the series to the Spanish state. It has hung in the Museo del Prado, Madrid, since 1889. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Facts
Origins
CreationSourced to the subject's own account
1819 to 1823 2
Date of CreationSourced to the subject's own account
About 1819 to 1823, originally a mural 2
Attributed ToSourced to the subject's own account
Francisco Goya 2
Classification
Object TypeSourced to the subject's own account
Painting 2
Medium (class)Sourced to the subject's own account
Mural painting 2
Custody
Current LocationSourced to the subject's own account
Museo del Prado, Madrid 2
Current CustodianSourced to the subject's own account
Museo del Prado 2
Rights and Reproduction
Reproduction and CopyrightSourced to the subject's own account
The painting itself is centuries past any copyright term, but a specific modern photograph of it carries its own separate copyright. This atlas describes and cites the work rather than reproducing an image of it. 1
Physical Form
MediumSourced to the subject's own account
Mixed media mural, transferred to canvas in 1874 1
DimensionsSourced to the subject's own account
143.5 cm by 81.4 cm (56.5 by 32.0 inches) 2
Subject Matter
Depicted SubjectSourced to the subject's own account
Saturn devouring the corpse of one of his own children, from the myth that he consumed each child at birth to forestall being overthrown by one of them. 2
Connections

Belongs to Tradition

Source Saturn Devouring His Son, Wikipedia

Depicts

Saturn, Deities
Source Saturn Devouring His Son, Wikipedia
In the Other Atlases

Authored By

Also in Arts and Music Atlas: the author of this subject.

Source Saturn Devouring His Son, WikipediaLead sentencetier 3
Quote, Lead sentence
Saturn Devouring His Son (Spanish: Saturno devorando a su hijo; also known as Saturn) is a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya.
Sources
1. Saturn Devouring His Son (The History of Art)
The History of ArtView the Source
2. Saturn Devouring His Son, Wikipedia
Wikipedia
  • Lead section, first sentence
    Saturn Devouring His Son (Spanish: Saturno devorando a su hijo; also known as Saturn) is a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya.
  • catalogue record, medium/object-type description
    One of the fourteen so called Black Paintings the Spanish artist Francisco Goya painted directly onto the walls of his house, the Quinta del Sordo, in his final years, roughly 1819 to 1823, with no intention of public display or sale.
View the Source
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