In case anyone missed the reference, this is based on a work found painted on the walls of Fransisco Goya’s dining room after he died. You’ll often hear it called “Saturn Devouring His Son”, but the work was never titled or displayed publicly. There’s really no good reason to believe that the devourer is Chronos/Saturn, that the devouree is even a child, or that either body is male.
I personally like to think of it as Untitled (Dining Room).
Did this person depict lots of mythological figures?
Nope! It’s been a few decades since my art history lectures but my memory is (and wikipedia agrees) that he did a lot of portraits and battle scenes. IIRC his battle paintings inspired Picasso’s. His late work is especially dark - madness and horror type stuff. Sinister distorted figures. They’re often called The Black Paintings.
if this is common knowledge
Quite the opposite. This painting was used in a slide in my greek mythology class during the lecture about the titans and chronos. Then in an art history class I learned the context, which I feel is much less known.
That is very interesting. I’ve also heard of it only as Saturn Devouring His Son. It’s my favorite painting though I must admit that I’ve not read up on it. It just fascinates me. I had no idea. Makes the painting even better.
Yeah, it’s one of my favourites too. So immediately striking. I don’t think it would’ve occurred to me to read up on it - what’s to read about? There’s just the figures and the act, nothing else. But then you find out that it’s somehow even more goth.
Various interpretations of the meaning of the picture have been offered: the conflict between youth and old age, time as the devourer of all things, the wrath of God and an allegory of the situation in Spain, where the fatherland consumed its children in wars and revolution. There have been explanations rooted in Goya’s relationships with his son, Javier, the only of his six children to survive to adulthood, or with his live-in housekeeper and possible mistress, Leocadia Weiss; the sex of the body being consumed cannot be determined with certainty. If Goya made any notes on the picture, they did not survive, as he never intended the picture for public exhibition.
I agree, the fact that the painting was never titled or displayed publicly adds a lot to the work. It was just in his dining room, alongside other similar paintings, if I recall. That context makes the already unnerving work hit harder. Thanks for sharing this tidbit
In case anyone missed the reference, this is based on a work found painted on the walls of Fransisco Goya’s dining room after he died. You’ll often hear it called “Saturn Devouring His Son”, but the work was never titled or displayed publicly. There’s really no good reason to believe that the devourer is Chronos/Saturn, that the devouree is even a child, or that either body is male.
I personally like to think of it as Untitled (Dining Room).
Untitled Dining Room is the name of my first album
Wait, I knew what it was normally called but never heard of the context. Did this person depict lots of mythological figures?
Apologies if this is common knowledge, I am incapable of remembering certain things.
Nope! It’s been a few decades since my art history lectures but my memory is (and wikipedia agrees) that he did a lot of portraits and battle scenes. IIRC his battle paintings inspired Picasso’s. His late work is especially dark - madness and horror type stuff. Sinister distorted figures. They’re often called The Black Paintings.
Quite the opposite. This painting was used in a slide in my greek mythology class during the lecture about the titans and chronos. Then in an art history class I learned the context, which I feel is much less known.
That is very interesting. I’ve also heard of it only as Saturn Devouring His Son. It’s my favorite painting though I must admit that I’ve not read up on it. It just fascinates me. I had no idea. Makes the painting even better.
Yeah, it’s one of my favourites too. So immediately striking. I don’t think it would’ve occurred to me to read up on it - what’s to read about? There’s just the figures and the act, nothing else. But then you find out that it’s somehow even more goth.
TIL!
Little things to inspire appetite 🥰
I agree, the fact that the painting was never titled or displayed publicly adds a lot to the work. It was just in his dining room, alongside other similar paintings, if I recall. That context makes the already unnerving work hit harder. Thanks for sharing this tidbit
I’m a big fan of Goya’s (drowning?) dog painting, another of his Black Paintings that nobody knew about before he died
Yeah wow that’s incredible. That dog looks very alone and scared, I could see how people say drowning. Cresting a hill was my first thought.
There is a good reason to think it’s a child - it looks like one. Just not necessarily the child of the devourer