was completed in 1814, two months after its companion work The Second of May 1808''. It depicts executions which followed the uprising.
The Second of May 1808 depicts the beginning of the uprising when the
Egyptian Mamelukes of the French Imperial Guard are ordered to charge and subdue the rioting citizens. The crowd sees the Mamelukes as
Moors, provoking an angry response. Instead of dispersing, the crowd turned on the charging Mamelukes, resulting in a ferocious
melee. Goya was probably not present during the actual Charge of the Mamelukes. His paintings were commissioned in 1814, after the expulsion of Napoleon's army from Spain, by the council governing Spain until the return of
Ferdinand VII. He chose to portray the citizens of Madrid as unknown heroes using the crudest of weapons, such as knives, to attack a professional, occupying army. That did not please the king when he returned, so the paintings were not hung publicly until many years (and governments) later. Goya chose not to paint any single action or to have any single focal point in order to emphasize the chaos of the drama. ==Influences==