William Blake,

Hi Victoria, what you have said is very interesting :

" Art shows the mind of the artist his inner world is somehow portrayed. "
or as Blake put it. " As the man is, so he sees, as the eye is formed, such are its powers. "

This is absolutely right, the artist draws from his/hers living experience, in Blake's case, as well as Fuseli's they were both deeply influenced by religion. In Fuseli's case, he was pushed by his father to enter the church. However, he developed an aversion to religious dogma, preferring to read, Milton, Dante, Homer and Shakespeare.

In Goya's case, it was a cruel time for Spain, which became the latest victim of Napoleon's drive for a total domination of Europe. With the French troops occupying Spain's key fortresses, King Charles IV was forced to abdicate in favour of his son Ferdinand. Then both were deposed, as the Emperor Napoleon declared his brother Joseph the new King of Spain. And within weeks the entire country was engulfed in a savage guerrilla warfare. Goya had to witness the dead in the streets during the May riots in Madrid and the new French King soon instituted many reforms, but soon found that the situation in Spain was desperate and three months later he was forced to abandon Madrid.

Also, for 350 years, Spain lay in the grip of The Spanish Inquisition. By Goya's time, thousands had suffered torture and slow death in the cause of Catholic purity, as the Inquisition rooted out heresy. Goya himself was summoned before it when his painting ' The Naked Maja ' was judged both ' obscene ' and ' immoral '.

Victoria, so the monsters were in this case, real for Goya. The church was killing and torturing people, the Catholic church was lost in irracional thought and yes, reason was asleeping as well.

Good to see you two are choc-aholics ! my favourite chocolates are Du Rhone from Geneve who have been doing chocolates since 1875. Monthly dosis of this delicious treat are Belgium chocolates which come in a box from a chocolate Club. All my friends get a box of chocolates for Christmas !