Francisco de Goya, 3rd of May 1808, 1814

My first encounter with Goya’s The Third of May was a small picture in a textbook that left little to no impact. In its home at the Prado Museum, it was a completely different experience and was immediately struck by the scale of the picture. The light source illuminating the defiant posture of the condemned, the loose brushstrokes of his blousy shirt against the rigid uniforms and steel of the soldiers, his past to the right of him and his future lying to his right. To call it a ‘favorite’ painting feels disrespectful to the history, yet it remains one of my most remembered pictures and how scale and intent of the artist is diminished when altered.