Saturn Devouring His Son
During the early 17th to 18th century the Spanish government was slowly evolving out of religion and into a new era of science. The transitioning era was called the romantic era, which was the introduction of passion towards art in all forms such as literature, plays, and specifically paintings. During this time, there was an explosion of new artists, along with focusing on how these paintings were made and how they were interpreted, for example romantic painters were more known for their passion that was reflected into their artworks. Specifically, Francisco De Goya who was argued by historians, the most important Spanish artists of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, because through his life he wrote down important historical events that occurred. He was an “old Master” and one of the “New Masters”, which in art it meant that he developed a skill for painting prior to the 1800’s and continued his skills after. His recognition also meant that his critiques and paintings were a very accurate portrayal of the current events at the time, and he was a successful and well-respected man. Ironically toward the end of his career, he went on a hiatus due to becoming extremely ill, and he created the black paintings which were a series of murals that he painted on the interior of his house, that were particularly morbid, which historians argue are his representations of his internal feelings that he had throughout his life. A specific painting that was created within his collection that shows the most powerful; emotions shared among people in the time was “Saturn Devouring His Son” because the painting best represents the end of religious control, entailing his feelings of loneliness and paranoia.
During the romantic era, people began to object the beliefs of religion through science, by doing so they separated church and state, because some saw the outcomes of sovereignty obstructing liberty, which was the movement towards progressive ideas. Francisco de Goya’s paintings were not just something that he did for enjoyment, because he was a respected idol to many along with other Spanish leaders at the time. So, historians today, believe that there was a genius in the madness, specifically the painting “Saturn devouring His Sons” which could easily represent the overruling of religion in government can lead to disaster. As the gory male-like figure in the mouth of a what seems to be Saturn, or Cronos in terms of Greek mythology. The blood of male figure is on the hands of Saturn, representing the guilt of what Goya would’ve felt if Sovereignty progressed. Most of Saturn’s body can be seen, and the brittle legs that are almost seen in contrast to the background of the painting shows that he was starving for the control, however in comparison to his son which it painted in a way were you can see the clear light in his figure. This can easily be seen as Saturn, which demonstrates the religious leaders that believe that religion is the righteous ways of doing things, however knowing that the people appose to it the government would cause the leaders to be more paranoid and distracted by power control rather than the wellbeing of society. “Saturn eating his Sons” represents the irony of the government ruling to be religion based, showing the destruction of society.
In the New England Review, Jay Morgan Scott emphasizes the feelings that Goya’s paintings evoked. Scott’s first impression on Goya’s representation of Saturn was a “Symbol of evil, a Satan, a Monster, and that is how I first saw him.”(Scott 39) The very visual of this painting, can make him express this intense emotion that he can relate to being that even though Saturn was hungry for power, in relativity this could have been a similar feel in contrast. During the time people were starting to change their beliefs and modernize their ideas, and De Goya could have felt the pressure and the devouring of sons could be of his possible successors after him. Everyone during the transition in the enlightenment was hungry for power, and power for their ideas to be met. The “Monster” that was mentioned earlier could have been the despair from being idolized to becoming a shell of himself as de Goya’s life was slowing deuterating. While explaining genius behind the madness in De Goya’s Psyche, Wrinkler describes the painting as “Goya seems to see into the dark recesses of the human psyche, illuminating them with the power of his art but, in doing so, somehow suggesting a deeper blackness” (Wrinkler 21) insinuating the complexity of his mind and the representation of the world in his own interpretation. The world was slowly starting to change and De Goya was starting to have signs of psychosis along with the inability to hear.
Reflection
In this assignment, the genre that is being displayed throughout the paper is Non-fiction incorporated with analytical ideas, using databases to back up my argument which can be found in my thesis. For example, my introduction is essentially a map to my paper, because it includes my ideas and leads up to the main topic that had to be included. I started off with a general topic, the time period, late 17th and early 18th century and the current events that surrounded it to create some extensive background and get further into detail later on in the paper. All the events that were described was true and based on facts through the use of database and confirmed through the use of accurate sources. While the majority of my paper was about the painting I still needed outside evidence to convey my ideas, such as the Francisco De Goya’s possible reason for painting “Saturn Devouring his Sons”. Using sources that are peer reviewed had more persuasion power to my argument that irrelevant facts, such as the hierarchy at the time, or the ruler of china.
What motivated me to do my paper is the interest I had in the topic, because I enjoy dark a dn morbid things. I also enjoy picking through someone’s brain, and finding a reason to their actions, in other words the psyche behind the drawing. Francisco De Goya was a respected man of his time and was a great painter of his time. One would wonder how a respected noble man went to plummet down in the social hierarchy, subsequently he decided to isolate himself and the fascination of the purpose behind his paintings. Another thing that made me eager to continue the paper, is the journey of self- improvement and incorporating my ideas to make better arguments. As I write more in the paper, I found myself learning about how to use specific terms, and the usage of the introduction. I found myself writing the body paragraphs first because it was like a map to my paper and I was able to guide myself through the introduction using the body paragraphs.
What I hoped to achieve in this paper is the ability to find my own writing style and process, along with the importance of each process of writing. I found ways to make my outline useful ad along with that, I found my own motivation such as, reading my paper out loud because sometimes I write a certain way that I don’t necessarily talk like. I also hoped to accomplish a way to learn how to use the databases more efficiently and effectively, Jay Scott was a really helpful resource for my paper because it was really hard to find sources that were accurate and in English. I always found it difficult to find sources for the paper in the databases, however I found it really hard. I realized that the CCNY database also helps find other databases that are related to my topic, and then the process got easier because I learned to properly use it.
A potential reader could possibly be other people who are interested in the troubled mind of artists. My main motivation, as mentioned earlier, was the in-depth view of the troubled minds psyche, especially the depiction that comes out after. The way that the mind can create such a depiction and the understanding of why Francisco De Goya’s mind went to such a dark place to begin with, was very fascinating.
This was essentially a helpful assignment as it was to open my mind to new ideas and allow my mind to find ways to incorporate my writing and also improve. I believe that I acquired the learning outcomes was especially achieved in this assignment because of the extensive amount I learned about writing a research paper, which would essentially be the bulk of my college career.
Bibliography
Morgan, Jay Scott. “The Mystery of Goya’s ‘Saturn.’” New England Review (1990-), vol. 22, no. 3, 2001, pp. 39–43. JSTOR,www.jstor.org/stable/40243981.
Wrinkler, Mary G. “Goya’s Caprichos and Creativity at Midlife and beyond .” Generations. Spring91, vol. 15, no. 2, p. 21. Academic Search Complete.
