[1] Commissioned by Prime Minister Práxedes Mateo Sagasta in 1886, Gisbert completed in 1888;[2] It has been used as vehicle for conveying the Spanish nation building from a perspective of the defence of Liberty.

[3] On 11 December 1831, following direct orders from Ferdinand VII and without any sort of trial, José María Torrijos was executed on the beach of Málaga, together with other companions (such as Manuel Flores Calderón [es] and Francisco Fernández Golfín), including both military and civilians.

An outstanding military man who became captain general of Valencia, field marshal and minister of war during the Liberal Triennium (1820-1823), Torrijos prepared the so-called Torrijos pronouncement from his exile in England (1824-1830), where he lived thanks in part to the aid granted by the Duke of Wellington[4] to the Spanish exiles who had fought under his command in the Spanish War of Independence.

In the painting, the prisoners are lined up with their hands tied, while some friars are busy blindfolding them and trying to offer the condemned one last consolation.

Behind them the firing squad awaits orders, while in the foreground, on the ground, some men lie already dead in a clearly Goyesque detail.