Focus on this artwork and explore the abstract.
Men Reading or The Reading (Spanish: La Lectura) or Politicians are names given to a fresco painting likely completed between 1820 and 1823 by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It is one of Goya's 14 Black Paintings (Pinturas negras) painted late in his life when, living alone in physical pain, spiritual torment and  disillusionment with the political direction of Spain, he painted 14 bleak, agonised frescoes onto the walls of the Quinta del Sordo (House of the deaf man), the house he was living in alone outside Madrid.
As with the others in the series, it was transferred to canvas in 1873–74 under the supervision of Salvador Martínez Cubells, a curator at the Museo del Prado. The owner, Baron Emile d'Erlanger, donated the work to the Spanish state in 1881, and they are now on display at the Prado.
Black Paintings Francisco Goya Baron Emile d'Erlanger Quinta del Sordo Spanish Museo del Prado Spain Salvador Martínez Cubells transferred to canvas Madrid