The Third of May 1808 Auction History

Commission and early placement (1814): Goya painted The Third of May 1808 in 1814 after petitioning the Council of Regency; contemporary documentation and frame invoices indicate financing for display in the Royal Palace under Ferdinand VII [3][1].

Prado and State ownership: By 1834 the painting had entered the Museo del Prado from the royal collection and has remained under Spanish State ownership there (inv. P00749) [1][5]. Under Royal Decree 433/2004, works assigned to the Prado are public-domain, inalienable property—hence no auction or private-sale history for this work [2]. During the Spanish Civil War it was evacuated, suffered transport damage in 1938, and later underwent major conservation (2007–2008) [4][7].

There is no auction or private-sale history for The Third of May 1808. The painting was produced in 1814 for Spain’s royal/state collection, entered the Prado by 1834, and remains a Spanish State asset assigned to the museum [1]. The Prado Statute (Royal Decree 433/2004) makes such works public-domain and explicitly inalienable, so this masterpiece is not marketable [2].

While the absence of transactions means no direct price benchmarks exist for this canvas, its stature anchors Goya’s reputation and shapes how collectors and institutions value other categories of his work. In the public market, the artist’s top auction result is the $16.4m sale of a pair of portraits at Christie’s New York in 2023—far below the hypothetical value of a museum-defining history painting, and a reminder that the most canonical works by Old Masters often reside permanently in public collections and outside commerce [6].

The painting’s documented history—including early royal display, its registration at the Prado, evacuation during the Spanish Civil War, damage in 1938, and major conservation completed in 2007–2008—adds cultural and scholarly significance rather than market liquidity [1][4][7]. For market reference, collectors seeking comparable Goyas typically look to portraits and works on paper that do enter trade, but The Third of May 1808 itself remains a cornerstone of the Prado’s holdings (inv. P00749) and a fixed point in the artist’s legacy [5].