Wish I could be killed like the old days

The only thing that is out of the ordinary is that their smile isn't too murderous, what a shame

I don't know the context of this painting but I do know that there was an execution technique that involved hanging a person upside down by their ankles on two separate posts. They then proceeded to saw the person down the middle. Because the blood would flow down to the brain the person would rarely loose consciousness until they reach the navel or farther. Ah the good old days, we just aren't as inventive as they were back then.