Regarded as one of Goya¿s masterpieces, the authorship of The Colossus is now under scrutiny. According to experts at the Prado Museum in Madrid, it is nearly certain that one of the best known works attributed to Spanish painter Francisco de Goya y Lucientes was actually created by one of his students, Valencian painter Ascencio Juliá. This painting, which forms part of the vast collection of works by Goya housed at the Prado Museum, represents one of the most dramatic and horrific images dealing with the effects of the Napoleonic war in Spain at the beginning of the XIX Century. The image depicts a corpulent giant towering menacingly over a landscape while the townspeople escape in all directions. Suspicions regarding the work¿s authorship began to emerge after research conducted with x-rays revealed earlier versions of the work under the painting¿s surface, which suggested indecisiveness on the part of the artist. Goya nearly always painted his works at one take. Because of these suspicions, the Prado Museum has decided to withdraw this work from the exhibit floor, while results from the last of the studies are made available.