GOYA IN THE PRADO MUSEUM
BIOGRAPHY In 1772, Goya won second prize in a competition opened by the Academy of Fine Art of Parma, for best painting representing the following subject: The victorious Hannibal gazes for the first time over the plains of Italy from the peaks of the Alps. The Mercury de France spoke of this competition and made various remarks about it, of which: "The Academy (of Parma) was glad to notice in the second picture a fine use of the brush, a look full of meaning in the face of Hannibal and a true grandeur in his bearing. If M. Goya had not drifted so far from the subject in his composition, and had been more true to nature in his coloring, he might perhaps have secured enough votes to bear the first prize." This picture in unknown and there's no reason for disputing the Mercury's opinion, but it's not strange that a man of Goya's character should have failed to submit to so big, un pictorial and pedantic a subject as that set by the Academy. It is also natural, considering the artistic ideas current then, that connoisseurs should have found Goya's coloring far removed from nature as conceived by the artists of the day. Goya went to Rome, where he met Louis David. In 1776 Raphael Mengs, then the arbiter of art matters in Spain, proposed to Goya that he should go to Madrid and paint cartoons for the tapestries produced by the manufacturers of Santa Barbara. Goya accepted and turned out many splendid designs. In the same year he married the sister of the painter Francisco Bayeu. Goya practiced the art of engraving, executing copies of Velรกzquez's pictures and wonderful original works such as the series called Los Caprichos, Los Proverbios, Los Desastres de la Guerra and La Tauromaquia. In 1780 he became a member of the Madrid Academy of Fine Art; in 1789 King Charles IV appointed him to be court painter; in 1803 the Royal Print Room bought the eighty plates that make up the series of etchings known as Los Caprichos, in 1798 Goya finished painting the decorations of the church of San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid, which work he executed in tempera with a most resourceful technique, for some of his backgrounds were
From Los Caprichos
certainly done with sponges soaked in the watery color, a method of filling in great expanses to which he resorted in his later productions. He used the palette knife to lay on the paint and also molded it with his finger, rubbing in with a rang to cover the background. At the time of the Napoleonic invasion Goya was court painter to Joseph Bonaparte; and aftewards held the same post under Ferdinand VII. In 1824 he went to France, visited Paris and settled at Bordeaux, where he lived a colony of distinguished Spaniards. He returned to Madrid in 1826, where his portrait was painted by D. Vicente Lรณpez, and obtained a pension in virtue to his post at court, after which, having had unlimited leave granted to him by the King, he returned to Bordeaux where he died on April 16, 1828 at the age of 82 years, painting to the last. The Prado contains an excellent, representative collection of his work in all its phases. True it is that the frescoes are missing, but those with which be adorned El Pilar and the Carthusian Convent of Aula Dei at Zaragoza are so un personal and of auch slight artistic merit that they must be regarded as a near freak in his career. The paintings in San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid, which are in tempera, are quite unlike the foregoing, between the two series there is all the difference that separates personal work from stuff turned out under a foreign influence that was never really assimilated by the artist's temperament. Criticism, in its judgment of the merits of Spanish artists, gives the palm to El Greco, Velรกzquez and Goya. These three painters are of widely varying temperament and express the three great aspects of our national pictorial art: the mystic in El Greco, the courtly and realistic in Velรกzquez and the popular in Goya. At the same time, these three From Tauromaquia masters represent the three great phases of our modern painting: El Greco ends the medieval period and opens the modern; Velรกzquez stands with Rembrandt on the highest point attained by modern painting, the age of which Goya closes and begins the contemporary epoch, for his latest work joins hands with Manet's. In the actual work of appreciating the artistic value of our painting, each one of these three masters has not yet had his exact importance and significance assigned to him. All three occupy the same rank with no distinction and this is not as it should be. Velรกzquez has been placed so high, he has been and is the object of so much praise, that he is as it were removed from the gaze of calm and reasoning
criticism, and enveloped in mantle of glory under which it is difficult to make out the form of the most talented painter ever produced by the modern world. El Greco and Goya are two artists who stand in diametrical opposition to VelĂĄzquez. The latter progression was straight and one sided, the development of his art as logical as that of a mathematical problem; from the beginning to the end, from his paintings at Seville (The Water Carrier, the Old Woman Frying Eggs) to the Family of Philip IV, the Thread Spinners and the Hermits, we observe this serene movement, untroubled by doubts or discouragement's. The painter questions art and life, sure of a prompt and clear answer, and moreover chooses questions the answers to which his temperament may easily grasp. In his work is none of the nervous unrest of the man who knows that the enigmas of life and art must crop up ever more numerous in his path, but the firm calm of one who knows that his eye will always be able to seize the clear and diaphanous truths that fall within his temperament sphere of action. VelĂĄzquez would rather read intensely in his own noble and well balanced mind than probe the mind of others in quest of these characteristics, good or ill. All his people show the nobility and goodness which we recognize in the painter's portraits of himself; where his canvas bears the poor image of a degenerate, he dips his brushes in his heart and finds there a feeling of deep pity and tenderness which lingers round those wretched faces like the fragrance breathed forth by some humble flower. Goya is all the opposite. His path in art was not straight but winding; we must follow in him the development of a complex, by no means a one-sided personality. Let us compare the joy of living that informs his tapestry cartoons with the unbridled rage of the massacres depicted in his canvases and etchings of the scenes of war. A glad light and festive coloring shine forth out of his tapestries; tragic shades, hoarse notes and violent chromatic chords Young Girls (The Letter) are those which express pictorially the artist's vision of life in his declining years; now the cry of agonized compassion of the Para eso habĂŠis nacido (For this were you born), now the brutal and bloody ferociousness of Saturn Devouring His Son, which he painted on one of the walls of his own dining-room. What a contrast between these decorations and the enchanting tapestries representing La Gallina Ciega (Blindman's Buff), La Vendimia (The Wine Harvest) or La Feria de Madrid (The Fair at Madrid). In Goya the unforeseen comes up at every step. His glance is constantly scrutinizing life and his works reflect the problem of human fate, cruel satire,
the most tragical poem ever produced by art, alternating between the fevered doubt of the soul and the radiant hope of light. His work is fraught with passion, nervous, exalted and vibrant like El Greco's, and, like the painter of the Burial of the Count of Orgaz, he succeeds astonishingly or fails. Both men drew marvelously, both are guilty of error like the atrociously disproportioned bodies of El Greco or the horribly bad horse in Goya's equestrian portrait of Palafox. El Greco and Velázquez painted portraits after their own spiritual semblances: in Velázquez, goodness and nobility; in El Greco, dreaming mysticism, sad and full of longing. Goya probes the dephts of his sitters' personalities, seizes their moral countenance and fixes it with a firm touch on g¡his canvcas. See in the Prado the delicate elegance of Tadea Arias, the vulgar type of Maria Luisa, the noble and stern bearing of General Urrutia, the evil face and false look of Ferdinand VII, who drags his royal robes like a bad actor across the vile scene of his court! Compare the tender, domestic happiness of Velázquez's Family of Philip IV with the cold and merciless psychological observation of Goya's Family of Charles IV. In the first picture we have a portrait that turns into action, a portrait at once of royal persons and of the intimate life of a home. Goya's group is a falily without home or affection, exhibited with the cold and disdainful psychological analysis which he applied to his royalties. The canvas dates from 1800; shortly afterwards these people begin the tragedy of Spain: first Charles IV and Maria Luisa, then Ferdinand VII and finally his brother Don Carlos. Goya's technique is as surprising and complex as his ideas and feelings. He gives us exuberant color in his tapestries of La Romería de San Isidro or his Family of Charles IV, strong Tadea Arias shades and contrats in the Clothed Maja, most delicate, pearly tones in the Naked Maja and the portraits of Bayeu and the Family of the Duke of Osuna. His figures and landscapes are now bathed in light, now plunged in darkness. A vibrant note of light rings in the picture, or it sinks down to the lowest sounds the palette can give forth, as if the gale of tragedy had blown out the flaming torches. Who could have foreseen that the author of the Family of Charles IV and of the tapestries would cover the walls of his house with brutal scenes of the ravings of a madman, dark tones and violent chords like some horrible nightmare?
Goya's soul saw pass in procession all the events of his time, which were portrayed there, with their images and passions as in a mirror. First the gladness of a people, and later the tragedy of this same people raised for the first time to the rank of the principal character in a painter's work. Genius alone can penetrate into the obscurest folds of men's souls, Genius alone can, at each step, cross question life, life which is made up of struggle and passion, grief and joy. Rafael Domenech
PAINTINGS More than 140 paintings by Francisco de Goya offer the visitor to the Prado the chance to analyse the artist’s development in considerable depth. Goya’s art arises from the Spanish tradition and Velázquez was his master, as he himself said. Goya was a brilliant and unique artist on a level with the other great masters of painting and far above his contemporaries in Spain. Among the most important works by the artist in the collection of the Museo del Prado are the tapestry cartoons The Parasol and The Pottery Vendor, and portraits of The Duke and Duchess of Osuna and their Children, The Countess of Chinchón, Don Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, The Family of Charles IV and The Marchioness of Santa Cruz. In addition there are the two Maja paintings, which have acquired near-iconic status. Goya as a history painter is represented by major works such as The Second of May, 1808, in Madrid and The Third of May, 1808, in Madrid, better known as The Second and Third of May, respectively. Among works from the last two periods of Goya’s career are the Black Paintings, executed in Madrid, and The Milkmaid of Bordeaux, which the artist completed during his final years when he lived in that French city.
The Picnic at the Edge of the Manzanares River (Merienda a la Orilla del Manzanares) Painted: 1776. Goya shows his ability to capture a moment in action, here he fills the scene with great vitality and life, as well as the sensuality of eating and sharing out in the open landscape.
The Parasol (El Quitasol) Painted: 1777. ORIGINAL SIZE: 87.5" X 115.3" This painting was among the second group of 10 cartoons displayed in the dining room of the Prince and Princess of Asturias –the future King Charles IV and Maria Luisa de Parma– in the Palace of the Pardo in Madrid. The canvas reproduces a popular motif, inspired from the most picturesque aspects of customs and life in Madrid at the time. The PARASOL is an original composition. The fresh and warm colouring, the damsel responding to a gallant flirtation, and the lit background make this one of Goya's most cheerful paintings.
The Junkman (El Chatarrero) Painted 1779. ORIGINAL SIZE: 101.9" X 86.6" It was painted for the King and is plentiful of 18th century Spanish popular atmosphere. The theme was possibly suggested by the King's own daughter. Velazquez's influence can be observed here in dealing with shapes and objects (tableware on the ground).
The Snowstorm (La Nevada) Painted: 1786 / 87. ORIGINAL SIZE: 108.26" X 115.35" Goya has already assimilated Tiepolo and Velazquez. He's able to reflect the feeling of cold in his characters, though this is more appreciable in the dog, which is practically paralysed
The Flower Girls (Las Floreras) Painted: 1786 / 87. Before King Carlos III's death, Goya painted some works for the royal dining room of the Palace of El Pardo. It's based on country subjects, as 'The wine harvest' is. They are absolutely filled with life and joy, reflecting the painter's personal situation and Spain's one till the monarch's death.
The Blind Man's Bluff (La Gallina Ciega) Painted: 1789. This is the only finished cartoon of the series painted by Carlos III's commission. Customs and manners subject, and strong French influence applied to Madrid's festivals in an inspired way. The painting shows the melancholy that began to torture the painter.
St. Isidro's Meadow (La Pradera de San Isidro) Painted: 1789. ORIGINAL SIZE: 87.5" X 115.3" This customs and manners depicted here is the best example of Goya's countryside motif, which is the main subject of a cartoon series that Goya painted by commission of Carlos III. They were unfinished because of the King's death. According to Goya himself, he had some trouble with the composition. It isn't strange, only one look is needed to see the complexity of this picture.
The Puppet (El Pelele) Painted: 1791. One of the last works that Goya painted for the textile mill of King Carlos IV. It's supossed to have a symbolic meaning, full of sarcasm about the monarch and the country's political position.
The Wedding (La Boda) Painted: 1791 / 92. A large cartoon in which Goya reveals his satirical talent. It shows an arranged wedding at that time: the children, the musicians, the bride and groom (she's elegant, he's grotesque), the bride's friends, the priest, the best man...everybody forming the wedding party.
The Naked Maja (La Maja Desnuda) Painted 1797 / 98. ORIGINAL SIZE: 38.18" X 74.80" At first it was called "gypsies", matching the clothed Maja. It creates a new nudity form, later followed by other painters, specially in France. Speculations about models for this work have been very numerous: nowadays it's believed that he used several women, ones for the face and others for the body. Goya's use of light is really splendid, obtaining an intimate and tinged atmosphere.
The Clothed Maja (La Maja Vestida) Painted 1797-98. ORIGINAL SIZE: 37.52" X 74.80" It repeats the naked Maja's composition, both in structure and in the model's position. But changes are clear in colours and general atmosphere. Goya is believed to have used a different model, more stylized in this case.
The Family of Charles IV. Francisco Goya in 1800. The man in the shadows in background at left is Goya himself. Others, left to right (all dates are birthdeath): Carlos Maria Isidro (1788-1855); the future Fernando VII (1784-1833); Maria Josefa (1744-1801), sister of Carlos IV; an unknown woman; MarĂa Isabel (1789-1848); Queen Maria Luisa (1751-1819); Francisco de Paula (1794-1848); King Carlos IV (1748-1819); Don Antonio Pascual, brother of the King (1755-1817); Carlota Joaquina (1775-1830, only part of head visible); Don Luis de Parma (1773-1803) and his wife Maria Luisa (17821824), holding baby Carlos Luis (1799-1883), the future Duke of Parma.
The Second of May 1808, also known as The Charge of the Mamelukes Francisco Goya. It is a companion to the painting The Third of May 1808 and is set in the Calle de Alcalรก near Puerta del Sol, Madrid, during the Dos de Mayo Uprising. It depicts one of the many people's rebellions against the French occupation of Spain that sparked the Peninsular War. Goya chose to portray the citizens of Madrid as unknown heroes using the crudest of weapons, such as knives, to attack a professional, occupying army. That did not please the king when he returned, so the paintings were not hung publicly until many years (and governments) later.
The Shootings of May 3rd. (Los Fusilamientos del 3 de Mayo) Painted: 1814. ORIGINAL SIZE: 104.72" X 135.82" The picture was painted by commission of the King together with "The Charge of the Mamelukes" to perpetuate the Madrid people´s stand against the forces of Napoleon. Possibly they were made from sketches drawn by witnesses at the shootings. Both the night and symmetrical composition of the subjects emphasize the drama: those being shot with their faces looking ahead, filled with feeling, and the soldiers from behind, depicting evil's machines.
Saturn Devouring His Son (Saturno Devorando a su Hijo) Painted: 1819 / 23. ORIGINAL SIZE: 57.48" X 32.67" Maybe the most terrible of Goya's paintings, it was done during his last and dark years. The expressed violence depicts the tortured mind of the painter, typical of his whole work.
Old Men Eating Soup (Viejos Comiendo Sopas) Painted: 1819 / 23. ORIGINAL SIZE: 20.86" X 33.46" This is one of the 'black paintings' of la Quinta del Sordo (the House of the Deaf Man) where Goya lived. His house was named because of his deafness. The reduced and dark palette of these paintings show once more the painter's state of mind.
Pilgrimage to St. Isidro's Fountain (Peregrinaci贸n a la Fuente de San Isidro) Painted: 1821 / 23. ORIGINAL SIZE: 55.11" X 172.44" This popular walk of the pilgrims to St. Isidro's fountain goes back to scenes from everyday life, from the artist's most sad and pessimistic point of view. It belongs to his black paintings.
The Witches' Sabbath (El Aquelarre) Painted: 1821 / 23. ORIGINAL SIZE: 55.11" X 93.70" Black painting with all its attributes: darkness, deformed and misshapen figures, not much variety of colours. Depictes a popular sorcery act.
The Dog on the Leash (El Perro Semihundido o El Perro en la Arena) Painted 1820 / 21. A disturbing and undecipherable painting. It belongs to the 14 "black paintings", and it was painted on the wall of one of the Quinta del Sordo's (the House of the Deaf Man) rooms. There's no biblical or mythological inspiration, it could be possibly an expression of his own anguish.
The Milkmaid of Bordeaux (La Lechera de Burdeos) Painted 1827. ORIGINAL SIZE: 29.13" X 26.77"
It was painted during his exile years in France. Goya returns to his beginnings´ brightness, blurring borders and including blue colour in the background.