Francisco Goya: The Third of May 1808, (1814)

(Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain)

Yesterday i posted the "The Second of May 1808, the Charge of the Mamelukes", today its famous companion piece "The Third of May 1808". After the French troops defeated the Spanish rebels in Madrid, the French commander Marshal Murat took reprisals as the blood of French soldiers had flowed. The Spanish rebels who were arrested the day before were rounded up and executed. The two paintings were commissioned by the Spanish provisional government but when they were finished, the Peninsular War (1808-1814) had ended and Ferdinand VII was king of Spain again. The Spanish court was not impressed by the two painting and they were placed in royal storage for about 60 years. Only in 1872 it first appeared in the catalog of the Prado museum. Painting from 1814.