Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
Viewers also liked
Viewers also liked (19)
Similar to Goya101
Similar to Goya101 (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Goya101
- 2. St. Isidro’s Meadow, 1778. Oil on canvas, 44 x 94 cm.
- 3. The Pilgrimage of St. Isidro, 1821-23. Oil on canvas, 140 x 438 cm.
- 5. Basilica del Pilar, Zaragoza, Spain
- 6. Infante Don Fernando Velazquez, 1632. Goya, 1778-79.
- 7. Hannibal the Conqueror, 1770.
- 8. Josefa Bayeu, 1805. Black chalk, 11 x 8 cm.
- 9. The Parasol, 1777. Oil on canvas, 104 x 152 cm.
- 10. Conde de Floridablanca and Goya, 1783. Oil on canvas, 262 x 166 cm.
- 11. The Family of the Duke of Osuna, 1788. Oil on canvas, 225 x 174 cm.
- 12. Witches in the Air, 1797-98. Witches Sabbath, 1797-98.
- 13. Gaspar de Jovellanos, 1797-98. Oil on canvas, 205 x 123 cm.
- 14. A Procession of Flagellants, 1812-14. Oil on Panel, 46 x 73 cm.
- 15. Los Caprichos, plate 23, “Those specks of dust” Los Caprichos, plate 24, “There was no remedy”
- 17. Los Caprichos, plate 43, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters.
- 18. Plate 7, Even Thus He Cannot Make Her Out Plate 37, And So Was His Grandfather Plate 68, Pretty Teacher!
- 19. The Family of Carlos IV, 1800. Oil on canvas, 280 x 336 cm.
- 20. Portrait of Manuel Godoy, Duke of Alcudia, 1801.
- 21. La maja vestida (The Clothed Maja), 1805. Oil on canvas, 97 x 190 cm. La maja desnuda (The Naked Maja), 1797-1800. Oil on canvas, 97 x 190 cm.
- 22. The Second of May, 1808, 1808-1814. Oil on canvas, 266 x 345 cm.
- 23. The Third of May, 1808, or The Executions on Principe Pio Hill, 1814. Oil on canvas, 266 x 345 cm.
- 24. Los desastres, plate 7, “What courage!” 1863.
- 25. The Celebrated Picador, Fernando del Toro, Draws the Fierce Beast on with His Pique, 1816.
- 26. Saturn Devouring His Son, 1820-24. Oil transferred to canvas from mural, 144 x 82 cm.
- 27. Duel with Clubs, 1820-24. Oil transferred to canvas from mural, 125 x 261 cm.
- 28. I Am Still Learning, 1824-28. Black chalk, 19 x 14.5 cm.
Editor's Notes
- In this painting and the next, Goya was painting the feast day of San Isidro, the patron saint of Madrid, where Goya lived. It is one of the biggest days of celebration each year on the 15th of may. It celebrates an 11th century laborer who was tilling the soil when his hoe struck a miraculous fountain in the earth that never ceased to flow. Over time, it became a place of pilgrimage. Many people believed that its waters would cure them of disease, and eventually a great church was built in its place. By Goya’s time, it was a gathering place like you see here. When Goya painted this version of St. Isidro, he was forty years old.
- This second version is a part of what historians refer to as Goya’s Black Paintings. Goya was in his mid-seventies when he painted it. His first depiction of St. Isidro was very small, but this one is much larger: four and a half feet high by fourteen feet wide. The contrast between the two does not stop at the size; the way Goya portrays the scene is completely opposite as well. About thirty years separate the two paintings that, between them, show the scope of the artist’s career. –We expect an artist to change in thirty years. But to change so much? To remake himself from top to bottom, into so apparently a different an artist, and with such compulsive force? Such a change can happen when youth turns to age, and sometimes art historians call it the coming of a “great, late style.” It is radical, but not with the comparatively weak radicalism of youth. Coming as it does after a long life, when there is so little time left, it has a seriousness beyond mere experiment or hypothesis. It says: look at this and look at it hard, because this may be the last you’ll hear from me.--
- Francisco de Goya was born on March 30, 1746 in a small village called Fuendetodos. Because of his birthplace, many have assumed that he was a country boy who rose from this remote village to become the official court painter of three consecutive Bourbon kings (Carlos III, Carlos IV, and Fernando VII). But this romanticized version of his life is misleading, he actually grew up in a medium-sized city called Zaragoza, the capital of Aragon. His father grew up in a lower middle class family and became a gilder, which was a pretty good job when patrons wanted everything to be gold-leafed.
- In the 1760s, Carlos III took an interest in the construction of a new basilica and Goya’s father was in charge of its gilding. This is where Goya first became immersed in the art world and when he was a teenager he started copying the works of great masters.
- The Inquisition made Spain very isolated, so Goya was not exposed to very many artists. He was able to see the work of past Spanish greats, like Velazquez, but unless someone in Spain acquired prints of work from other European artists, the work was unknown. This was the case of Rembrandt: Goya found inspiration in his work when he came across prints after Rembrandt’s work, Goya would later say , “I have three masters: Nature, Velazquez, and Rembrandt.” Velazquez’ work was widely celebrated in Spain, so Goya had access to a great deal of his work. His first go at etching was based on these paintings. However, Goya felt that he needed a better education, so he applied to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Madrid. The Royal Academy only accepted one contestant the first year he applied (not Goya), and on his second try he didn’t get a single vote.
- Goya noticed during this process that King Carlos III was a little obsessed with Italy, and only accepted ideas (or artists) that came from Italy. It was after his second failed attempt that Goya decided to take off for Italy, where he saw work done by the greatest artists who had ever lived. This venture was unusual at this time because of the restrictions placed on travel by the Inquisition, but Goya’s goal of continuing his artistic education made his case unique. What exactly he did during his time in Italy is largely unknown, but the impact it made on his work is very noticeable. He entered one more competition before he returned to Spain, to the Academy of Parma. The subject he was assigned was Hannibal looking down from the Alps on the plains of Italy right before he would conquer it. After he was rejected once more, Goya returned to Zaragoza. One of the main motivations to return home was the promise of marriage to Josefa Bayeu, who was the sister of his artist friends.
- This is the only portrait that we know for certain depicts Josefa, she was 62 when Goya drew her. They were married for 39 years, During which, it has been said that Josefa became pregnant 20 times, only six of these pregnancies came to term and only one son, Javier, survived past childhood. Little else is known about her because there are no known letters or diaries written by her (many assume this is because she didn’t know how to read or write). However, it is known that the marriage helped to solidify the partnership between Goya and her brothers, a union which helped them get a large percentage of commissioned artwork in Zaragoza. About a year after they married, they joined her brothers in Madrid, where Goya began painting tapestry cartoons, to be woven by the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Barbara. (He was 29)
- Goya’s sense of observation that we later see in Los Caprichos began here. The tapestry paintings were typically scenes from everyday life, like in The Parasol. The girl in this piece is dressed in the latest French fashions. She is looking at us, not at the boy who is holding the parasol for her- she is accepting his service as if it is what she expects. Here we can also see the influence Goya’s time in Italy had on his work. The wall and the tree form diagonals that are reinforced by the balance of color- the green of the parasol echoes the similar green of the trees, the girl’s turban, the red of the girl’s turban, the boy’s waistcoat and the dog’s collar go together and so on. This is a Neoclassical composition, which was purely Italian.
- Goya’s tapestry paintings got the attention of a painter, Anton Mengs, who was commissioned by King Carlos III on several occasions. His past in Italy made his work attractive to the king and his opinion was held in high regard. He began to recommend Goya for work, and was the main reason he got this commission from the count of Floridablanca. This is the first, but not the last, time that Goya used the mirror this way, we see what the mirror sees. This tells a little story: right before the moment captured by the painting, Goya presented his work to the count and now he is looking into the mirror to see how well Goya did. The count of Floridablanca was very important for the upward movement of Goya’s career, but as a politician he tried to stifle movement in society. Those who shared his view did their best to hide the French revolution from society to keep order in Spain. However, there existed a group of intellectuals, the ilustrados, who collected books from other European countries on the Enlightenment.
- Here we have the ninth duke and duchess of Osuna (OH SOOON AH), who compiled their own library of Enlightened thought. Authorities allowed this collection, but refused the offer when the duke tried to bequeath it, as a whole, to the State. The literate percentage of the population was very small, so was the threat of these books as long as they stayed in personal libraries. The OH SOON AHs welcomed Goya like one of these books, to their collection of outstanding writer, musician, and artist friends. They would become one of Goya’s biggest supporters and commissioned many works.
- Among these commissioned works were a group of witchcraft paintings. Scenes of witchcraft were very popular in the late 18th century, even trendy. The same way some people today enjoy horror movies without believing in mummies or zombies, the duchess and other intellectuals enjoyed the foolish tales of witchcraft. Certainly, there was a part of the population that completely believed in the existence of such sorcery, but Goya was not among them. As he wrote to a friend, “Ya, ya ya- im not afraid of witches, hobgoblins, ghosts, boastful giants, et cetera, nor indeed of any kind of beings except human beings.” It is questionable whether Inquisitors actually believed in witches themselves, but their persecution was undeniable, comparable with the Salem witch trials. There were those who posed as witches and sold potions to the naïve, but those who outwardly claimed to be witches were certainly not the only ones who were condemned for such practices.
- This is another very influential figure in Goya’s life, Gaspar de Jovellanos. The two became friends while they were running in the same circles in court. Jovellanos always recommended Goya for commissions and advised him on intellectual matters. The impact of his ideas on Goya’s perspective is unquestionable and it was his observations on society that helped shape the themes of the Caprichos. Not only that, he is also shown in one of the Caprichos, plate 56, To Rise and to fall. Jovellanos is not one of the foremost figures, he is tumbling backwards in the background. His political career was what you would expect from a very liberal man in a country on the verge of change. He was favored one minute and too radical the next. In the Capricho, he is falling as Manuel Godoy (more about Godoy and Goya’s complicated relationship later) rises back to power. Godoy hired Jovellanos to please left-wing Spaniards – he was outdone and fired by the King, but when Jovellanos became too radical again, Godoy was put back in power. This wheel of fortune is a persisting theme in all societies, but this one in particular comes from Goya’s own life.
- The influence of these forward thinking friends helped shape the commentary Goya gives through his Caprichos, and the Spanish Inquisition was one of the most important conditions to be commented on. This is a much later depiction of the Inquisition painted by Goya. It shows the public procession of the convicted with religious icons – the criminals were forced to wear white skirts and conical hats and the Inquisitors wore a black version, some played instruments and some carried the icons. This procession was part of a ceremony called the auto-da-fe, or act of faith. -Inquisition explanation-
- There are many Caprichos that point to the effects of the Inquisition, there are scenes of prison and arrests, but these two are direct references to the ceremonies of the persecutions. Plate 23 shows the convicted heretic hanging his head as his sentence is read by a judge. Plate 24 features a woman being led through the streets to her burning.
- This is the way the Caprichos were originally published and presented for sale in 1799. Goya made 300 copies of these bound books of 80 prints, but only sold 27 before pulling them off the shelves. Caprichos translates to a whim or folly, for Goya, they were his comments on society and all of its flaws.
- Shortly before he set to work on the Caprichos, Goya became very sick. There is still a lot of debate over what was actually wrong because the doctors who treated him could never determine the cause. The doctors also could not prevent Goya from losing his hearing, which marked a significant turning point in his life and his work. Goya became very isolated and retreated into his own mind, where he found a very bitter, cynical outlook on the world around him. In hindsight, the results of his deafness were not all bad: it gave him a sharp sense of observation that allowed him to portray the human condition in a more truthful way than anyone before him. Goya is called the last of the Old Masters and the first of the modernist partly because of these observations- his use of the mirror in his portrait of Floridablanca was one thing, but in the Caprichos, Goya holds up a mirror to show us all who we really are. This is not to say that every print is specifically relevant to every soul who sees it, but within the collection, there are certainly themes we can all relate with. this is the most recognizable and important image from the Caprichos. Many believe that this was supposed to be the first print of the series because it is the only one that contains the title within the image. Instead, the first image is his self-portrait, and The Sleep of Reason serves as a halfway mark. For the most part, the images preceding this one are things that Goya would have seen as he walked around Madrid. The images that follow are nightmarish and contain creatures that are less human. The title of this piece defines the Enlightenment and Goya’s beliefs. However, his message is complicated by the commentary: “Imagination abandoned by reason produces impossible monsters: united with her, she is the other of the arts and the source of their wonders.” In other words, Goya believed in the power of both reason AND imagination, and thought that their combination led to great art. The animals in the Sleep of Reason are all symbolic: the cat (predatory symbol of the night and often associated with witches and sorcery), the owl (symbol of folly or foolishness), bats (symbol of ignorance) and the lynx (the master seer of truth).
- Three persisting themes in the Caprichos are relationships, the use of animals and beasts as thinly veiled symbols for ills in society, and supernatural creatures as similar symbols. The first Capricho features a woman who appears several times in the Caprichos, a woman who looks a lot like the Duchess of Alba- a young, hip socialite who liked to have people like Goya in her inner circle. Goya became obsessed with her and used her image in many pieces of artwork, Hannah will take a closer look at their relationship in the third installment of this lecture series. The second Capricho is one of a series of donkeys- using donkeys or asses as a way to ridicule individuals is a tradition that goes back centuries, and this time was no exception. This donkey in particular is tracing back his family lineage, an obsession during Goya’s time because everyone wanted to be nobles- this is a practice we can still see today. The last Capricho, Pretty Teacher, shows an older witch teaching a younger witch how to fly on the broom, again we have the owl symbolizing foolishness
- The same year that Goya created the Caprichos, he was appointed the official court painter for Carlos IV. He painted this portrait of him and his family a year later. Goya includes himself in the portrait, behind the family, looking straight out to the viewer. Goya was known for his sometimes painfully accurate portrayals of his subjects, and this was no exception. He did not make the royal family more beautiful than they were, he painted them as he saw them. Some have misinterpreted this and thought he was making fun of them, but it is much more likely that he felt it important to tell the truth in his depictions. PHOTOSHOP
- The royal family could only be painted so many times, so of course Goya painted other high-class officials and nobles, like Manuel Godoy, the “Prince of Peace”. Before Napoleon and his French forces invaded Spain and started the Peninsular war, Godoy brought the people of Spain together to keep the French at bay a little while longer. Of course this would not last long, but his part in this earned him the title of the Prince of Peace. His peers still didn’t really like him, he was the queen’s favorite and nobody believed that he advanced by his own merit. Today, we can thank him for one thing: his excellent taste in art. He loved Goya’s work and commissioned not only portraits of himself, but also two paintings featuring a girl we know only as the maja.
- The identity of the Majas is uncertain. The most popularly cited models are the Duchess of Alba, with whom Goya was sometimes thought to have had an affair, and Pepita Tudó, mistress of Manuel de Godoy. Neither theory has been verified, and it remains as likely that the paintings represent an idealized composite. The paintings were never publicly exhibited during Goya's lifetime. In 1808 all Godoy's property was seized by Ferdinand VII after his fall from power and exile, and in 1813 the Inquisition confiscated both works as 'obscene', returning them in 1836 to the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. Because there was mythological or religious story behind the paintings, the nude version was the first purely sensual life-size female nude in the history of western art. Previously artist treated the nude as a very sterile subject matter, more concerned with properly displaying the features of the human body than evoking feelings through the faces and positioning of the body.
- In 1804, Napoleon I declared himself Emperor of France. Spain controlled access to the Mediterranean sea, so it was strategically important to France. Carlos IV was regarded as a half-wit king who renounces cares of state for the satisfaction of hunting. Napoleon manipulated him into joining forces to invade Portugal- once it was theirs it would be divided into thirds : one third to Spain, one to france, and one to Godoy. Godoy was intrigued by the offer and accepted, but he was clearly mislead because Ferdinand 7th, son of Carlos IV, conspired with Napoleon and intended to take control of Spain himself. French troops entered Spain in 1807 with no resistance because they acted like they were only there to reinforce Spanish troops. A year later, Napoleon replaced Ferdinand with his brother Joseph, much to the dismay of the Spanish people. On the 2nd of May, 1808, the people of Madrid rebelled, which is shown in this painting by Goya. Many Spanish intellectuals, including Goya, supported the initial intentions of the French revolution and hoped for something similar in Spain, and as court painter he remained loyal to Joseph, who was in power. However, there was such widespread destruction that Goya could not help but feel anger towards this new government. In 1814, the French were finally out of Spain and Goya went to the newly reinstated government and proposed a commission of paintings representing the uprising in Madrid. This is the first of the two paintings.
- Think of images that define the last century- photographs from Vietnam, 9/11 and even the Boston bombings- these images haunt us and remind us of the cruel realities of the world. Before photography, this was that image. After the chaos in the second of may, this one is meant to be a singular moment in time.
- Goya created several other etched series after the Caprichos, one of which he worked on throughout Napoleon’s invasion. The disasters of war depicts a variety of scenes from the battlefields to those left behind. The plate shown here is one of the more heroic scenes, which became legendary in Spain. This woman, Agustina of Aragon, climbed over the bodies of the deceased (legend has it that one of those deceased was her lover) in order to fire a cannon at the advancing French troops.
- Throughout his career, Goya revisited scenes of bullfighting. He loved it so much that he signed some letters “Francisco de los Toros” or Francisco of the bulls. His series on bullfighting was not printed until after his death, along with another series referred to as the Proverbs. From 1814-19 he focused on these series and portraits of the newly reinstated Bourbon monarchs. Ernest Hemmingway
- In 1819, Goya isolated himself in a house called Quinta del Sordo- or the House of the Deaf man- where he created the Black Paintings. These highlight Goya’s fear of insanity and worsening outlook on humanity. Most of the paintings were done directly onto the walls and later transferred to canvas by a curator of the Prado museum in spain.
- In 1824, Goya left Spain to live in Bordeaux, France. This is where he would spend the rest of his life until his death in 1828. He arrived old, weak, deaf, and broke to a community of intellectual exiles from Spain. He never stopped working, and during his last four years he produced at least 123 crayon sketches, including this one, “I am still learning” – and we are still learning today about goya and things he has hidden in his work through radiology which allows us to see underneath layers and layers of paint. His legacy lives on in the minds of artists and art historians- there have been countless works of art inspired by his work from Manet to Picasso to artists still producing work today. A surge in goya’s popularity in recent years has led to many attempts at forgery. A recent wallstreet journal article cites goya as a pop cultural phenomenon and Nicholas Hall, co-chairman of the old masters at Christie’s said “goya is entirely revolutionary and I think he is very much an artist of the moment.”