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The Third of May 1808

Francisco Goya · Romanticism & Landscape

Artist: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746–1828)
Date: 1814
Dimensions: 268 x 347 cm
Medium: Oil on canvas
Location: Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

The Third of May 1808 depicts the execution of Spanish civilians by French soldiers on a hillside near Madrid, in reprisal for the uprising of the day before. Goya painted it six years later, after Napoleon’s troops had been driven out of Spain.

A closer look

On the right, the firing squad stands in a tight, faceless row, rifles levelled. Facing them, a man in a white shirt throws his arms wide in a gesture recalling the crucifixion, lit by a large lantern on the ground; his palm shows a mark like a stigma. Around him others cover their faces or pray, while the dead lie in pools of blood at his feet and more victims wait their turn. Unlike traditional battle paintings, there is no hero and no glory here, only the brutal reality of war.

History of the painting

Goya proposed the two paintings of the uprising of May 1808 to the Spanish regency government in February 1814, shortly before King Ferdinand VII returned to the throne, offering to commemorate 'the most notable and heroic actions of our glorious insurrection against the tyrant of Europe'. The finished pictures were not put on show for decades and were long kept in storage. During the Spanish Civil War, while being evacuated from Madrid, both canvases were damaged in a road accident; they were restored, and a further restoration was completed in 2008 for the bicentenary of the events.

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