Atropos (The Fates)
Francisco de Goya Y Lucientes

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This work is part of the black paintings series of art that Goya produced at the time when he was at his most dispairing, his mental state was deteriorating, and began painting the black paintings on the walls of a house known as the house of the deaf man.
This and other black paintings were later transferred onto canvas.
The painting is a interpretation of the 'daughters of the Night' from Greek mythology, Atropos the goddess of death with her scissors that she uses to cut the threads of life, Clotho and Lachesis. With these three figures is a fourth figure bound with hands behind as if captive.