# Goya paints The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid (1814) as a public anti-atrocity canvas

Date: 1814

## The fact

In 1814 [Goya](/people/francisco-goya) painted The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid.

It is one event.

## Context

Separate event date from painting date. Split 1814 court office.

Francisco Goya’s documented role is bounded by other offices and collaborators named in the sources below. Sharing a field with them is not a reason to drop a documented act, and it is not a reason to assign later consequences done in the name after death.

Painted 1814 on a regency/restoration commission, depicting the 3 May 1808 executions. Date of painting is 1814, not 1808. Anti-atrocity public picture, later Prado. Not a battlefield command.
Named person as heading of the dated public instrument. Later editors, museums, printers, or offices share publication. Complex where later carriers date the row.

## Evidence and sources

Prado’s 3rd of May page and Smarthistory independently date the canvas to 1814 and the subject to 3 May 1808.

Official or archival record: Prado — The 3rd of May 1808 in Madrid (https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-3rd-of-may-1808-in-madrid/5e177438-32ab-4d1f-8b43-0b65d81e87a6; Museo Nacional del Prado).

## Significance

A large public execution picture is a humanitarian-visibility instrument.

1814 paint is not 1808 street.

A large public execution picture is a humanitarian-visibility instrument.

## What is established and what is not

Established: 1814 Prado canvas of the 3 May 1808 executions. Not established: that Goya stood on that hill in 1808 as a reporter.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

Established here: a sourced, dated public instrument with a named contribution by Francisco Goya.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date, signatory, or non-occurrence; a demonstrated forgery; or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of other causes.

They are not a public rating.

## People

- Francisco Goya: https://factrail.ai/people/francisco-goya

## Drivers

- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-3rd-of-may-1808-in-madrid/5e177438-32ab-4d1f-8b43-0b65d81e87a6
- https://smarthistory.org/goya-third-of-may-1808/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/goy-third-may