Saturn/Cronos Devouring His Son

The Titan Kronos had great fear. He was afraid that what he did to his father would happen to him. So he wanted to secure his job by eliminating all the children born to Rhea. He began to swallow every baby born to Rhea...


Rhea's children were being devoured one by one and she could not bear it anymore. That's why he asked for help from mother earth Gaia. However, not only Gaia, but also the barren father Uranos, who wanted revenge, would help Rhea...
Eventually Zeus was born, but Uranus managed to hide the baby god before anyone could see him. Rhea took a stone and swaddled it like a baby and gave it to Kronos.
Kronos didn't even look at what he was going to swallow. He was so scared that he had to swallow the new baby without wasting any time.


That's why he acted hastily and threw the stone into his stomach, thinking it was a baby. Meanwhile, Zeus had already been taken to the island of Crete. He would hide there and grow up gathering his strength to overthrow his father. Meanwhile, there was something else that Kronos did not take into account.
All the children he swallowed continued their lives inside him. These babies, who were aware of everything, hated their fathers and were waiting for the day of revenge to come.
The kidnapped Zeus would one day grow up and release all his siblings by disemboweling his father. In art history, the scene of Kronos swallowing his children has been depicted in various ways by great masters. One of the most famous of these belongs to Goya...


Francisco Goya's work titled 'Saturn/Cronos Devouring His Son', dated between 1819-23 and currently exhibited at the Prado Museum in Madrid, is also one of the most chilling scenes in the history of art. In the version of the Spanish painter Goya, one of the most important names of the Romantic period, we are faced with a much more chilling scene. Romance; It was a movement that reflected the passions for freedom, excitement and enthusiasm in Europe at that time.
Works from this period are described as 'novel-like'. So, mind-blowing and supernatural scenes are very popular. Especially passion for history, ruins and legends are the most popular subjects of this period. Aiming to reinterpret humans and nature, artists of this period turn to their own emotions and inner world. For this reason, it can be said that individual comments are important.
In this type of paintings, the most popular subjects are usually stormy sky atmosphere, stormy sea scenes, human helplessness and fear in the face of nature. When we look at the general characteristics of the Romantic period so far and return to the picture, we may not be able to establish much of a connection.
Goya's example is not a clear romantic example. It is more interpreted as another genre called 'dark romance'. It takes its name from Goya's 'Black Paintings' series.