Spanish painter francisco goya's painting. (Original title : saturno devorando a su hijo)
According to myth, Saturn (Kronos in Greek mythology) overthrew his own father and seized control of the world, only to learn that one of his sons would meet the same fate. Consequently he devoured all the children he fathered, but his wife managed to hide their youngest son, Jupiter. The very thing Saturn feared comes to pass: Jupiter (Zeus) overthrows his father and becomes the ruler of the throne.
It is thought that Goya was inspired by the eponymous painting of peter paul rubens while creating his work:
Rubens
Goya
However, a side‑by‑side look at the two paintings reveals obvious differences. Rubens, for all his horror, still produced a scene that at least resembles the palace‑art conventions of his era. Goya’s picture, on the other hand, lacks even the slightest delicacy. The only feeling I get when I look at the painting is "unease". No matter how much one might argue otherwise, it is clear that Goya succeeded in creating a far more savage, inhuman, and arrogantly powerful god‑figure. Was it even correct to call it a god? The depiction recalls more a monster or a demon than a deity. At the beginning of this article I said Saturn ate his sons, but the painting shows the act in a different manner: Saturn is shown gnawing on his son, killing him slowly and painfully.
Learning about the background of the painting only doubles the sense of unease.
After the illness that left Goya deaf, he moved to the Quinta del Sordo (also known as the Villa of the Deaf Man) and, during his stay there, painted fourteen different works on the house’s walls with oil, a series later called black paintings. The painting of Saturn devouring his son was placed on the kitchen wall. Sitting down to eat while staring at that picture is, in my opinion, not a very pleasant experience (perhaps he brought his meals into the hall to eat, idk). In these works Goya depicted his own life, his dreams, his hallucinations, revealing that his mind was gradually slipping away. He withdrew completely from the people he once served, from the courtly environment, and became isolated.
The original was painted directly on the wall, later transferred to canvas, and is now on display at the Prado Museum in Madrid. [1]
References
- lənətə gəlmiş zənci. «saturn devouring his son». Sözaltı sözlük, 11.10.2021. soz6.com