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Recently I visited the Royal Palace in Madrid and in the throne room I saw a statue of what appeared to be a man holding up a small child, about to strike him with an open palm. I'm very curious as to what the this statue is about.

I was unable to photograph the statue as taking photos is forbidden in the palace although I managed to find an image of it on Google, the statue is by the door at the back of the photo.

Throne Room - Royal Palace Madrid

and a closeup

Close Up of the Statue

chrisg42
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1 Answers1

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This is a statue of Saturn, part of the Planets series by Jacques Jonghelinck. Here is an article that reconstructs the history of the statues, with more detailed pictures on page 126. Given how the myth of Saturn devouring his son has been an artistic theme in other occasions, the fate of the child is likely to be much worse than a spanking.

notautogenerated
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