Francisco Goya and the Second of May, 1808 - Essay Example As the crowd began to resist the attempts to disperse it, there resulted a fierce skirmish between the two sides which provided the theme of the portrait. Thus, the popular uprising in Madrid between the second and third of May 1808 provided the themes of two of the most important paintings by Goya. On the second of May 1808, the French soldiers caught isolated on the streets of Madrid were murdered by the outraged populace and Goya captured this violent engagement in his famous The Second of May 1808. "This event became the opening shot of the war of independence, celebrated ever after the Dos de Mayo. Goya worked for topographical accuracy to stress the connection between the historic occasion and the geographical and symbolic center of the city Goya makes the spectator feel like an eyewitness to the brutal killing, emphasizing the unplanned, spontaneous character of the uprising to set the stage for the picture of the systematic representation that follows in The Third of May 1808.
