Perhaps the most startling and disturbing piece of his collection, Goya’s Saturn Devouring His Son depicts the god Saturn carnivorously eating his son, fearing that his children would one day overthrow him. One would argue that such grotesque imagery does not and cannot mesh with Virginia Woolf’s 1925 portrait of Clarissa Dalloway—an overly-reminiscent semi-socialite preparing for a soiree.

In comparing the two works, I have found it crucial to interpret Goya’s piece in an alternative fashion than most would. I see less of a monstrous god tearing at the flesh of a human and more of a deranged old man feasting on his youth. Saturn, painted as if on the verge of tears, desperately crams the body of a youthful, fit man into his mouth. Grey-haired and weathered, it is almost as if the man hopes to find the Fountain of Youth in his poor son’s body—wishing to taste the hazy memories of juvenescence.

Clarissa Dalloway, “who [feels] very young, but at the same time unspeakably aged," constantly dwells on the past. When venturing into the city to prepare for her party, Dalloway reflects on her youth in Bourton, questioning her choices in life and love. Attempting to fill the gaps torn by her aging self, Dalloway constantly seeks company, feeding off the energy of those around her. She finds herself longingly gawking at those younger than her, remarking “They looked so clean and sound…she in an apricot bloom of powder…she loved Lords; she loved youth…” In a way, Dalloway is the human embodiment of Goya’s creation. Starving from the turmoil of old age, both characters wish to reclaim a sense of power, control, and vitality—cannibalistically sucking from the youth of those closest to them.