'The dog'

FRANCISCO DE GOYA

1820-22
Fresco transferred to canvas, 134-80 cm. -Madrid, Prado Museum

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In 1819, Goya moved to a property in the outskirts of Madrid -later known as the “Quinta del Sordo”(Deaf Man's House) - and started to decorate it with a series of "dark" paintings of horror, witches and devastating scenes like the infamous “Saturn devouring one of his sons”. In the middle of such a panorama, next to a door, lonely and abandoned, we found a dog. This is perhaps the most enigmatic painting of the entire Quinta. It depicts a dog, totally hidden except for his head, against an ochre background. We can know nothing more about the protagonist or the meaning of this fresco. Where is that dog? What is he looking at? Is he sinking, or, on the contrary, he sticks his head out cautiously, afraid of something we are not able to intuit? There are many interpretations of this painting, associating the dog to the infernal figure who guides the dead souls to the Hell, and suggesting it as a symbol of the abandonment and the neglect.

Text by G. Fernández, www.theartwolf.com

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