My question is why didn't he just destroy the canvas instead of painting over it? Would it not been easier? Was canvas really that valuable that he opted to reuse it even after it had an almost completed painting on it?
More than valuable I'd say laborious. A canvas isn't just a piece of fabric. It must be procesed and properly mounted on a frame, that also must be built. Why would you want to trash it when you just need to blank it and start again?
Why do programmers write code in files, look it over, decide it's crap and rewrite it all within the same file instead of making a new file and removing the original? (Some don't even commit the old one for archiving, possibly even encrypted!) (Yeah yeah, not comparable. ;P )
I always liked Goya's work. I wonder if there's anything beneath "Saturn Devouring His Son"...
It isn't hard to just put a fresh coat of gesso on a painted canvas; There really isn't much reason to waste canvas as the new paint will cover it up anyway (as the fact that it took x-rays to find this one displays).
