Francisco de Goya y Lucientes - The third of May 1808

• Title: The third of May 1808 (El Tres de Mayo)
• Artist: Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828)
• Date: 1814
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dimensions: 260 x 340 cm

The painting commemorates the uprising against Napoleon’s troops who had been accepted in Spain to bring about liberalism but were rejected when Napoleon’s brother, Joseph, was made king of Spain. On May 2, 1808, a Madrid crowd killed some French soldiers. Before dawn the next day, French commander Murat rounded up and shot hundreds of Madrilenes. Ensued a five-year guerilla war before the French withdrew.

The painting depicts two groups of men- one group is a rigidly poised firing squad and the other a disorganized group of captives held at gunpoint. The central figure is the brilliantly lit man kneeling amid the bloodied corpses of those already executed, his arms flung wide. His plain white shirt and sun-burnt face show he is a simple laborer. The painting uses codes from martyrdom in Christian art- dramatic use of chiaroscuro, the appeal to life juxtaposed with the inevitability of imminent execution, and the posture reminiscent of crucified Jesus including a stigma on the victim’s right hand.