I would consider this one of my more controversial, if not irreverent Santa Classics. But I wanted to bring attention to it, because this painting is one of the great anti-war paintings of all time, followed 125 years later by Picasso's Guernica.
On May 3rd, 1808, hundreds of Madrid civilians were executed for revolting against the invading Napoleonic French army. This painting was commissioned by the interim government in 1814, after Napoleonic forces had withdrawn from Spain. It is the second in a pair of paintings depicting uprising. The first painting was The Second of May 1808. Together they represent the day of the insurrection and the next day’s consequence. The two very large paintings were almost the exact same size, 9x11’, but they took Goya only two months to complete. And that is no small feat.
To see original: https://bit.ly/3kaT973
