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Artist: GOYA y Lucientes (Francisco de) (1746-1828)
Date: 1814
Technique: oil on canvas
Dimensions : H. 2.68 m; W. 3.47 m
Place:Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain
Subjects: Spain
Key words: Spain, Peninsular War
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Notes: In 1814, the Regency Council in Spain gave Goya a sum of money for him "to paint the some of the most remarkable and heroic moments in the glorious uprising against the tyrant of Europe". Goya chose to evoke two key moments in the popular revolt: the people of Madrid attacking Mamluks in the Puerta del Sol square on 2 May, 1808, (shown here) and the execution of the rebels the following day on the Principe Pio hill outside the city.
The two paintings formed part of the decoration of a temporary Triumphal Arch erected for the return of King Ferdinand VII to Madrid in 1814. Though damaged during the Spanish Civil War, they have been returned to their pristine condition after painstaking restoration work (May 2008).
Exhibition Goya in Times of War, Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain, closing on 13 July, 2008.
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