''Atropos'', or ''The Fates'' (Spanish: ''Átropos'' or ''Las Parcas'') is one of the 14 ''

Black Paintings The Black Paintings (Spanish: ''Pinturas negras'') is the name given to a group of 14 paintings by Francisco Goya from the later years of his life, probably between 1820 and 1823. They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his fe ...

'' painted by

Francisco de Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, a ...

between 1819–1823. Goya, then 75 and in mental and physical despair, created the series directly onto the interior walls of the house known as the Quinta del Sordo ("House of the Deaf Man"), purchased in 1819. It probably occupied a position on the second floor of the house beside the ''

Fight with Cudgels ''Fight with Cudgels'' ( or ''Duelo a garrotazos''), called ''The Strangers'' or ''Cowherds'' in the inventories, is the name given to a painting by Spain, Spanish artist Francisco Goya, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. Goya did not give nam ...

'' and across from the '' Fantastic Vision''. Like the rest of the black paintings, it was transferred to canvas in 1873–74 under the supervision of

Salvador Martínez Cubells Salvador Martínez Cubells (9 November 1845 – 21 January 1914) was a Spanish painter and art restorer (Paintings conservator), who specialized in history painting and Costumbrismo. Biography He was born in Valencia, and received his firs ...

, a curator at the

Museo del Prado The Museo del Prado ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It houses collections of Art of Europe, European art, dating from the 12th century to the early 20th ce ...

. The owner,

Baron Emile d'Erlanger Baron Emile Beaumont D'Erlanger (4 June 1866 – 24 July 1939) was a French-born British merchant banker. Life He was the second eldest son of Frédéric Emile d'Erlanger, a banker working in Paris at the French branch of Emile Erlanger and Co ...

, donated the canvases to the Spanish state in 1881, and they are now on display at the Prado. The painting is a reinterpretation of the mythological subject of the goddesses of destiny—the

Moirai In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, the Moirai ()often known in English as the Fateswere the personifications of fate, destiny. They were three sisters: Clotho (the spinner), Lachesis (mythology), Lachesis (the allotter ...

or fates as recounted in

Homer Homer (; , ; possibly born ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek poet who is credited as the author of the ''Iliad'' and the ''Odyssey'', two epic poems that are foundational works of ancient Greek literature. Despite doubts about his autho ...

Hesiod Hesiod ( or ; ''Hēsíodos''; ) was an ancient Greece, Greek poet generally thought to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.M. L. West, ''Hesiod: Theogony'', Oxford University Press (1966), p. 40.Jasper Gr ...

Virgil Publius Vergilius Maro (; 15 October 70 BC21 September 19 BC), usually called Virgil or Vergil ( ) in English, was an ancient Rome, ancient Roman poet of the Augustan literature (ancient Rome), Augustan period. He composed three of the most fa ...

and other classical writers. These "Daughters of Night" were headed by

Atropos Atropos (; "without turn"), in Greek mythology, was the third of the Three Fates or Moirai, goddesses of fate and destiny. Her Roman equivalent was Morta. Atropos was one of the Three Fates and was known as "the Inflexible One." It was Atro ...

, the inexorable goddess of death, who carries a few scissors to cut the thread of life;

Clotho Clotho (; ) or Klotho, is a mythological figure. She was one of the Three Fates or Moirai. In ancient Greek mythology, she spins the thread of human life, her sisters draw out ( Lachesis) and cut ( Atropos) the thread. She also made major dec ...

, with her

distaff A distaff (, , also called a rock"Rock." ''The Oxford English Dictionary''. 2nd ed. 1989.) is a tool used in spinning. It is designed to hold the unspun fibers, keeping them untangled and thus easing the spinning process. It is most commonly use ...

(which Goya replaces with a doll or newborn child, possibly an allegory of life), and

Lachesis Lachesis ( ; ; from , 'to obtain by lot, by fate, or by the will of the gods'), in ancient Greek religion, was the middle of the Three Fates, or Moirai; the others were her sisters, Clotho and Atropos. Normally seen clothed in white, Laches ...

, the spinning one, which in this representation looks across a lens or in a mirror and symbolizes time, since she was the one who measured the length of the fiber. To the three female figures suspended in the air a fourth figure is added in the foreground. Possibly male, this figure's hands are bound behind him as if he is captive. If this interpretation is true, the fates would be deciding the destiny of the man whose bound hands cannot be opposed to his fate. It has been speculated that he may represent

Prometheus In Greek mythology, Prometheus (; , , possibly meaning "forethought")Smith"Prometheus". is a Titans, Titan. He is best known for defying the Olympian gods by taking theft of fire, fire from them and giving it to humanity in the form of technol ...

, who was bound on a mountain and left to be savaged by an eagle as punishment for stealing fire from

Mount Olympus Mount Olympus (, , ) is an extensive massif near the Thermaic Gulf of the Aegean Sea, located on the border between Thessaly and Macedonia (Greece), Macedonia, between the regional units of Larissa (regional unit), Larissa and Pieria (regional ...

.Hughes, 388 The painting's range of color is diminished, as much or even more so than the other black paintings, to ochres and blacks. This reinforces a nocturnal and unreal atmosphere, appropriate to the mythical subject of this work. The arbitrary, irrational aspects of Goya's ''Black Paintings'' have given them a place as precursors to

modern art Modern art includes artistic work produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the styles and philosophies of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the tradit ...

References

Bibliography

*Benito Oterino, Agustín, ''La luz en la quinta del sordo: estudio de las formas y cotidianidad'', Madrid, Universidad Complutense, 2002, p. 33
Edición digital
. *Bozal, Valeriano, ''Francisco Goya, vida y obra'', (2 vols.) Madrid, Tf. Editores, 2005. . *Bozal, Valeriano, ''Pinturas Negras de Goya'', Tf. Editores, Madrid, 1997. *Glendinning, Nigel, ''Francisco de Goya'', Madrid, Cuadernos de Historia 16 (col. «El arte y sus creadores», nº 30), 1993. * Junquera, Juan José. ''The Black Paintings of Goya''. London: Scala Publishers, 2008. *Hagen, Rose-Marie and Hagen, Rainer, ''Francisco de Goya'', Cologne, Taschen, 2003. . * Hughes, Robert. ''Goya''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Atropos Paintings of Greek myths 1820s paintings Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado Oil on canvas paintings

See also

References

Bibliography

External links