Reference no: EM132251439

The greatest artist of romantic protest was the Spanish painter Francisco Goya (1746-1828), whose paintings and drawings depicted the senseless brutality of war and oppression. In 1808 Goya was court painter in Madrid when Napoleon's army invaded Spain to overthrow the weakened Spanish monarchy. Spanish citizens rose in sporadic but violent resistance to the French army, fighting the first guerrilla war. The uprising generated mutual reprisals of extreme brutality, which Goya sketched in a horrifying series called The Disasters of War. Goya's protest is best captured in the paintingExecutions of the Third of May, 1808. The picture portrays the execution of Spanish insurgents in Madrid by a French firing squad. The scene is presented with such a raw truthfulness that the picture has been called the "explosion of modern painting." (Bishop, p. 326)

The primary thesis of the passage is that

a) Goya's most famous painting was the Disasters of War, which depicted Napoleon's brutality

b) Goya protested the senseless brutality of war and oppression through his paintings and drawings.

c) Francisco Goya was a great artist who participated in the first guerilla war against the French army.