Romanticism · 1814
Francisco Goya 1746–1828
Museo del Prado · Madrid
A faceless firing squad guns down Madrid's defenders; the white-shirted man throws out his arms in a cry against all war.
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Chapter 1 of 7
You are standing before one of history's most radical acts of witness. In 1814, six years after the events it depicts, Francisco Goya petitioned the Spanish government to paint the Napoleonic executions on this very hillside outside Madrid. No battle glory, no marching banners — just a dark slope, a lantern, and death at close range.
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Madrid
Room 64 · Level 0
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Public domain image via Wikimedia Commons.
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