(Click for larger image)
The Shootings of May Third, 1808
by Francisco Jose de Goya y
Lucientes
(Click for larger image)
Throughout history, people have been influenced by all sorts of things. Usually the things that matter the most, are the things that influence us the most. This can probably be seen most clearly in painters and other visual artists because their work is visual. One example of this influence can be seen in The Shootings of May Third, 1808 by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes.
In 1808, the French invaded Spain as a part of the Napoleonic War. Shortly after Spain was conquered, it revolted and spent the next six years fighting for its independence. Goya served as court painter to the French from 1808 to 1814 when independence was finally won from the French. During this time, Goay painted a series of paintings know as The Disasters of War, of which The Shootings of May Third, 1808 is a part. In this series of starkly realistic etchings, Goya expressed his horror of armed conflict and the atrocities of war. It is clear in the painting that Goya was whole-heartedly against war and violence in general. In this realistic depiction of a massacre of innocent victims outside the city, Goya expresses his disgust for the waste of human life that accompanies war and violence.
Goya’s new sense of realism marks the beginning of 19th century realism, but this style was developed over the course of many years. As a young painter, Goya painted mostly in the style of rococo. From 1775 to 1792, Goya painted designs for a tapestry factory in Madrid. This was the most important period in his artistic development. That experience helped him become a keen observer of human behavior. Throughout this time, Goya was also being influenced by neoclassicism, which was becoming more popular than the rococo style. Finally, in his study of the painting of Velazquez in the royal collection, he developed a looser, more spontaneous painting technique. In 1792, Goya developed a serious illness that left him permanently deaf. As a result of the isolation brought on by his deafness, he became increasingly occupied with the fantasies and inventions of his imagination and with the critical and satirical observations of mankind. During this time, he developed a new, bold, free style similar to caricature. Then in a series of religious art that followed, he perfected this broad, free style and earthly realism that he had been developing in his work.
In order to understand what Goya was feeling when he painted this painting, we must look at different parts of this painting as if they were individual paintings, and then step back and look at the painting as a whole again.
When this portion of the painting is looked at on its own, and then as a part of the whole, we can begin to see how Goya felt about the waste of innocent human life. Goya has painted the man about to die with his hands in the air. This suggests that the man is an innocent of any wrongdoing. When we move back to looking at the whole painting, we can see that the soldiers are justly executing criminals, but that they are unjustly murdering townspeople.
In this portion of the painting, we see a crowd of people weeping over some loss. When we go back to the whole painting, we see that they are weeping over the death of the victims. The dead are probably loved ones of the onlookers. Goya probably included these onlookers weeping to show the sorrow and loss felt when loved ones are unjustly killed in war or acts of violence. That kind of sorrow is different from when a loved dies from old age or sickness. When they die from old age or sickness, we usually accept that it was their time and it is all part of some master plan, but when a loved one dies from a random act of violence or in a war, we have a much harder time accepting that it was their time, and thus, the sorrow and loss are greater.
The Shootings of May Third, 1808, is an excellent example of how the experiences a person has in his life and the events that are happening around him can influence the way he expresses himself. Over the course of his life, events in Goya’s life, such as his deafening illness, had a great impact on the style he developed. In addition to that, had major political events not taken place, such as the Napoleonic invasion of Spain, Goya would not have had the inspiration to paint such a compelling masterpiece. In The Shootings of May Third, 1808, Goya provides us with an excellent example of a person’s way of expressing himself and what he expresses being influenced by the experiences he has had and what is going on around him.
