A fascinating illustration of the transience of human power comes through the story of Francisco de Goya's painting Allegory of Madrid. As a court painter, Goya painted for whomever was in power. So in 1810, he began a portrait of King Joseph Bonaparte. Napoleon had conquered Spain and installed his brother Joseph as king. In 1812, Spain was liberated and Goya altered the portrait, putting the new Spanish Constitution where former King Joseph's head had been. Joseph's head reappeared, though, in 1813 when the French retook Madrid. The city fell again, and in 1814 Joseph's head was replaced with that of Ferdinand VII's, the new Spanish monarch. (Footnote 1: Paul Johnson, The Birth of the Modern (New York, Harper Collins, 1991) 69.) Comically the head illustrates a profound truth: human power is anything but immutable.