Saturn

Title

Saturn

Also known as

Saturn Devouring His Son

Maker

Francisco de Goya

Nationality, dates

Spanish, 1746–1828

Date

1820–1823

Medium

Mixed method on mural, transferred to canvas

Dimensions

143.5 × 81.4 cm (56.5 × 32 in)

Series

The Black Paintings

Painted for

The ground-floor room of the Quinta del Sordo, Goya’s house outside Madrid

Later history

Transferred to canvas in the 1870s by the restorer Salvador Martínez Cubells for Baron Émile d’Erlanger. Shown in Paris at the Exposition Universelle of 1878. Donated by d’Erlanger to the Spanish State in 1881.

Held by

Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid (P000763). Not affiliated with or endorsed by the Museo Nacional del Prado.

Rights

Public domain. Image source: Wikimedia Commons, “Francisco de Goya, Saturno devorando a su hijo (1819-1823).jpg” (PD-Art).

In February 1819 Goya bought a country house outside Madrid. It was known as the Quinta del Sordo, the House of the Deaf Man, a name it owed to an earlier owner who was also deaf. Goya was 72 and had been deaf since an illness in the early 1790s. Around 1820 he began to paint the walls of its two large rooms. These murals are now called the Black Paintings, and Goya gave none of them a title.

Saturn was on the ground floor, on the wall facing the door. Tradition places it opposite Leocadia, a woman in a black veil, though the historian Nigel Glendinning argued that it faced a different mural. In the myth, Saturn swallows his children because a prophecy warned that one of them would overthrow him. Goya leaves out the scythe and the hourglass that usually identify the god. The titles came from others after his death.

In 1823 Goya passed the house to his grandson Mariano, and in 1824 he left Spain for Bordeaux. The murals stayed on the walls until the 1870s, when a later owner, Baron Émile d’Erlanger, had them transferred to canvas. In 1874 he had the photographer J. Laurent record them in the house. Saturn’s eyes were among the most damaged areas and were repainted. Carlos Foradada, a painter and art historian who has studied Laurent’s photographs, argues that the original stare was different. In his reading, Goya’s Saturn looked the viewer in the eye, astonished.

• Woven blanket, 100% cotton, with colorful fringed edges
• Three sizes: 52 × 37 in (132 × 94 cm), 60 × 50 in (152 × 127 cm), 80 × 60 in (203 × 152 cm)
• Size tolerance ±2.5 in (about 6 cm)
• Hang it as a wall tapestry (hanging hardware not included), or use it on a sofa or bed
• Woven threads soften fine linework; colors and texture differ slightly from the screen image
• Catalogue N° 001 · The Noha Studio

• Machine wash cold, max 30°C / 86°F
• Gentle cycle, mild detergent
• Non-chlorine bleach only if needed
• Tumble dry low

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