Saturn Devouring His Son

Goya painted fourteen large murals directly on the walls of his country house outside Madrid between 1819 and 1823, in the period following the collapse of the Spanish liberal constitution and the restoration of absolute monarchy. He was deaf, elderly (in his 70s), and living alone. The paintings — never mentioned by Goya in his correspondence and never exhibited in his lifetime — were discovered after his death.

The murals were detached from the walls in 1874 and transferred to canvas at the request of Baron Emile d'Erlanger, who had bought the house. He presented them to the Spanish state in 1881, and they entered the Prado. Goya gave the paintings no titles — Saturn Devouring His Son was titled by art historians after the myth of the Titan Saturn, who devoured his children to prevent them from overthrowing him.