depicted the bloody bodies of others already lying dead on the
ground. Still others have been herded together to be shot in a few
moments. Its depiction of the resistance and patriotism of the Span-
ish people notwithstanding,Third of May, 1808,was a royal commis-
sion, painted in 1814 for Ferdinand VII (r. 1813–1833), who had re-
claimed the throne after the ouster of the French.
SATURN Over time, Goya became increasingly disillusioned and
pessimistic, and his declining health only contributed to this state of
mind. Among his later works are the Black Paintings, frescoes he
painted on the walls of his farmhouse in Quinta del Sordo, outside
Madrid. Because Goya created these works solely on his terms and for
his private viewing, they provide great insight into the artist’s out-
look, which is terrifying and disturbing.Saturn Devouring One of His
Children (FIG. 30-14) depicts the raw carnage and violence of Sat-
urn (the Greek god Kronos; see “The Gods and Goddesses of Mount
Olympus,” Chapter 5, page 101, or page xxiii in Volume II), wild-eyed
and monstrous, as he consumes one of his children. Because of the
similarity of Kronos and khronos(Greek for “time”), Saturn has come
to be associated with time. This has led some scholars to interpret
Goya’s painting as an expression of the artist’s despair over the pas-
sage of time. Despite the simplicity of the image, it conveys a wild-
ness, boldness, and brutality that cannot help but evoke an elemental
response from any viewer. Goya’s work, rooted both in personal and
national history, presents darkly emotional images well in keeping
with Romanticism.
THÉODORE GÉRICAULTIn France one of the artists most
closely associated with the Romantic movement was Théodore
Géricault(1791–1824), who studied with an admirer of David,
P. N. Guérin (1774–1833). Although Géricault retained an interest in
the heroic and the epic and was well trained in classical drawing, he
chafed at the rigidity of the Neoclassical style, instead producing
works that captivate the viewer with their drama, visual complexity,
and emotional force.
Géricault’s most ambitious project was a gigantic canvas (ap-
proximately 16 by 23 feet) titled Raft of the Medusa (FIG. 30-15). In
this depiction of a historical event, the artist abandoned the idealism
of Neoclassicism and instead invoked the theatricality of Romanti-
cism. The painting’s subject is a shipwreck that occurred in 1816 off
the African coast. The French frigate Medusa ran aground on a reef
due to the incompetence of the captain, a political appointee. In an
attempt to survive, 150 remaining passengers built a makeshift raft
from pieces of the disintegrating ship. The raft drifted for 12 days,
and the number of survivors dwindled to 15. Finally, a ship spotted
the raft and rescued the emaciated survivors. This horrendous event
was political dynamite once it became public knowledge.
In Raft of the Medusa,which Géricault took eight months to
complete, the artist sought to capture the horror, chaos, and emo-
tion of the tragedy yet invoke the grandeur and impact of large-scale
history painting. Géricault went to great lengths to ensure the accu-
racy of his representation. He visited hospitals and morgues to ex-
amine corpses, interviewed the survivors, and had a model of the
raft constructed in his studio. In the painting, the few despairing
survivors summon what little strength they have left to flag down
the passing ship far on the horizon. Géricault departed from the
straightforward organization of Neoclassical compositions and in-
stead presented a jumble of writhing bodies. He arranged the sur-
vivors and several corpses in a powerful X-shaped composition, and
piled one body on another in every attitude of suffering, despair, and
death (recalling the plague-stricken bodies in Gros’s Napoleon at
Jaffa,FIG. 30-5). One light-filled diagonal axis stretches from bodiesat the lower left up to the black man raised on his comrades’ shoul-
ders and waving a piece of cloth toward the horizon. The cross axis
descends from the storm clouds and the dark, billowing sail at the
upper left to the shadowed upper torso of the body trailing in the
open sea. Géricault’s decision to place the raft at a diagonal so that a
corner juts outward further compels viewers’ participation in this
scene. Indeed, it seems as though some of the corpses are sliding off
the raft into the viewing space. The subdued palette and prominent
shadows lend an ominous pall to the scene.
Géricault also took this opportunity to insert a comment on the
practice of slavery. The artist was a member of an abolitionist group
that sought ways to end the slave trade in the colonies. Given his788 Chapter 30 EUROPE AND AMERICA, 1800 TO 187030-14Francisco Goya,Saturn Devouring One of His Children,
1819–1823. Detached fresco mounted on canvas, 4 9 –^18 2 85 – 8 .
Museo del Prado, Madrid.
This disturbing fresco in Goya’s farmhouse uses a mythological tale
perhaps to express the aging artist’s despair over the passage of time.
Saturn’s Greek name Kronos is similar to the Greek word for time.1 ft.30-15A
GÉRICAULT,
Charging
Chasseur, 1812.