Chapter Six

Francisco Goya and .

Spanish Art at the Turn of
the Eighteenth Century

Spain, a prominent world power during the sixteenth and was primarily to the artistic life of Spain, as in 1752 he founded
early seventeenth centuries, had lost much of its prestige the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
by the beginning of the eighteenth. Although it retained
a vast colonial empire in the Americas, much of the wealth
this generated was squandered in futile wars in Europe . Court Patronage under Carlos III: Tiepolo and Mengs
In 1700 the last Spanish king of the princely Habsburg
family died . Epileptic and deformed (his subjects called The advent of Carlos III (ruled 1759-88 ) brought many
him "The Bewitched"), Carlos II left no heir, although sev­ positive changes in Spanish society. An enlightened monarch,
eral parties jockeyed to replace him. The deceased king Carlos curbed the power of the church and the aristoc­
had Habsburg cousins in Austria as well as French rela­ racy, and promoted education , economic development,
tives belonging to the royal Bourbon family. Eventually, science , and the arts . With the help of his secretary of
the Bourbon supporters prevailed and a grandson of Louis state , Jose Floridablanca (1728-1808) , he built schools ,
XIV, Philippe d'Anjou , ascended the Spanish throne as established lending institutions for farmers , and initiated
Felipe V (ruled 1700-46). numerous building projects.
During much of Felipe's forty-six-year reign and that of To decorate the newly built royal palace in Madrid ,
his successor, Fernando VI (ruled 1746-59), Spain contin­ Carlos III invited the renowned painters Ciovanni Battista
ued to fight European wars, mostly in order to maintain the Tiepolo and Anton Raphael Mengs (see pages 29 and 50)
Bourbons on the throne. Meanwhile, the country itself steadily to Spain. Tiepolo, assisted by two of his sons, produced a
decayed . Cities were dangerous; the infrastructure was poor; series of exuberant Rococo ceiling fres cos, such as The
agriculture was backward; and public education was practi­ Apotheosis of tlJe Spanish Monarchy (FIC. 6-1) in the dome of
cally non-existent. There was no significant middle class , the antechamber, or saleta, to the throne room . Painted
only a huge underclass of peasants and paupers and a small between 1764 and 1766, this fresco offers an illusionist
but extremely influential elite of clergy and aristocrats . The view into the higher spheres, where a female figure rep­
efforts of Fernando to bring about agricultural progress did resenting the Spanish monarchy sits on an enormous piece
little to change this rather dismal situation . His contribution of drapery floating on the clouds. Mercury flies through
the sky, delivering her crown. Along the Im,v er edge of the
dome , additional gods and heroes-Venus , Mars , Her­
Francisco Goya, He Family oj Carlos IV, 1800-0 1 (Detail of FIG 6-8.) cules-emphasize the notion of a divinely sanctioned rule.

Court Patr01wge under Carlos III: Tiepolo and Mwgs 143

 .
f

6-1 Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, The Apotheosis of the Spanish Monarchy, 1764-6. C e iling fresc o, 5'9" x 3'5" ( 15 x 9 m ). Roy al Pal ace , Sale ta d e la
Reina , Madrid.

144 Francisco Goya and Spanish Art at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century
6-2 Anton Raphael Mengs, The Apotheosis oj Hercules, 1762-9 and 1775. Ceiling fresco , 31 '2" x 33' I 0" (c. 9.5 x 10.3 m ) Royal Palace ,
Antecamara de Gasparini , Madrid.

It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast than the one 6-3 Anton Raphael Mengs, Portrait oj Carlos
between Tiepolo's ApotiJeosis of tiJe Spanish MonarciJy and the III, 1761. Oil on canvas, 60 1YI 6 x 43~1 6" (1.54 x 1.1
m) . Museo del Prado, Madrid.
frescos executed for the royal palace by Mengs. The lat­
ter's The ApotiJeosis of Hercules (FIG. 6-2), in the Antecamara
de Gasparini , lacks the illusionist qualities of Tiepolo's
Rococo fresco. Instead of creating a dramatic build-up \
- .,'"
towards the center of the ceiling, Mengs has concentrated
his efforts on the edges, where he has arranged his figures ~~~r.,i·,·:t,
" .~ ..."1
t • .
in the manner of a Classical frieze. Thus his fresco con­ j ) .'
.\

tinues the Neoclassical model that Mengs had first introduced

in his Parnassus in the Villa Albani (see FIG. 2-8). r~\ "J:.~~.'., .
~
"~. ,". .~. '~':'. ,~
_". . - '-'-7'I6"iJ
Mengs also painted a series of portraits of the royal
it . if ' . ~';~;:.I\ . ­
family. His Portrait of Carlos III (FIG. 6-3), of 1761, follows
the Baroque ruler portrait tradition, perfected by the French
painter Rigaud (see FIG . 1-1). Dressed in ceremonial armor,
fL.'~ \--­
f~ 1' -­
';:,JA~~"',_: ,~.., . ~
1 - '. :--. "".­ -....
J-~
$; .•'
the King is posed before the ubiquitous column, which

,
- .,' -t'­
signifies the solidity of his rule. The curtain, another stock .,~, ...;;~
: . to:'li " ~- ..,...-.. ~~
element of Baroque portraits, lends it a formal appearance.
Though Mengs has not ignored the King's less attractive '~/'ft"!"
.: - ,-~~ ~

,. ~~
" / -'

features, most notably his oversized nose, he has also ' / : • f : , ' ,: - •' . . .. ,-.

brought out the intelligence and spiritedness that Carlos

brought to the Spanish throne. Pleased with Mengs's work,
:.." 1'\ ~I" . .:'

Court Patronage under Carlos III Tiepolo and Mengs 145

6-4 Francisco Goya, Th e Parasol, 1777. O il o n ca nvas, 41 x 59~8" ( 1.04 x 1.52 m ). Museo de l Prado , Madrid .

both as decorator and portraitist, Carlos III appointed him the Royal Tapestry Manufactory of Santa Barbara in Madrid.
First Court Painter and asked him for help in reforming Founded by Felipe V to compete directly with the famous
the Spanish art academy, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Gobelin Manufactory in Paris, it had thus far not been very
of San Fernando. In this influential role , Mengs had an successful. Bayeu and Mengs intended to breathe new life
opportunity to reform art education in accordance with into the tapestry factory by attracting innovative young
the Classical precepts that he had formulated during his artists to paint the initial designs , or cartoons . They also
association with Winckelmann in Rome . sought to introduce new themes. While previously most
tapestries had depicted religious and mythological scenes,
they encouraged genre subjects-that is , subj ects taken
The Making of Francisco Goya from the events of daily life.
Goya was among those asked to work on these new
While, in Madrid, Ttepolo and Ivlengs were pitting Rococo designs . Between 1774 and 1792 he produced a steady
against Neoclassicism , in Fuendetodos, northeast of Madrid, stream of cartoons, which provided him with a regular
a thirteen-year-old boy named Francisco Goya y Lucientes income. The Parasol (FIC. 6-4), a cartoon for a tapestry that
(1746-1828) was apprenticed by his father to a local painter. would hang in the princes' dining room in El Pardo, the
like most provincial art students, Goya spent several tedious royal hunting palace outside Madrid, is an early example.
years copying engravings and drawing after plaster casts . A pretty young woman sits on a hillock, with a little dog
At the age of seventeen, feeling that his training was com­ in her lap . Behind her stands her sweetheart, who shields
plete, he left for Madrid. her with a parasol. Stylistically, Goya's cartoon is rooted
With his provincial training, Goya had a hard time mak­ in the Rococo; at first glance, it recalls the decorative paint­
ing a living in Madrid until he found a mentor in Francisco ings of his French contemporary Jean-Honore Fragonard.
Bayeu (1734-1795) . This painter, his future father-in-law, When Goya 's Parasol and Fragonard's Secret Meeting (see FIC.
was twelve years older than Goya and well respected in 1-8) are closely compared, however, Goya's cartoon appears
Madrid. The connection became particularly important more broadly painted and less cluttered with detail. More
when Bayeu, together with Mengs, was asked to reform importantl y, while Fragonard's young men and women

146 Francisco Goya and Spanish Art at the Tu rn oj the Eighteenth Century
 were young women and men who worked as servants or
small-time entrepreneurs to make a more or less honest
living. Admired by the lower classes because of their gal­
lant behavior and exotic dress, they were fascinating
characters for the aristocracy as well.
Goya's interests in realism and popular culture are
even more obvious in a set of six cartoons for tapestries
representing the rural activities of the four seasons and
two scenes of low-class life . One of these, The Wounded
Mason (FIC. 6-5) , shows two men carrying an injured
laborer away from a construction site . It is an unusual
image for its time, in that it focuses attention on the dis­
mal living conditions of Spain's working class. Painted
in dark, muted colors, it seems hardly suitable for a dec­
orative tapestry. Nonetheless, this tapestry and the others,
equally devoted to peasant and low-class life, were hung
in the princes' dining room in EI Pardo, which suggests
that they fitted within Carlos's enlightened philosophy
of government.
While producing cartoons for the Royal Tapestry Man­
ufactory, Goya regularly accepted commissions for religious
paintings . He also worked hard to develop a portrait
clientele among the aristocracy. His first breakthrough
came in 1783, with the Portrait of the Count of Floridablanca
(FIC. 6-6). The secretary of state is shown in his office,
standing in front of his desk. Although he looks straight
at the viewer, he seems to gesture towards Goya, who
has come to deliver his portrait. Perhaps he is compar­
ing Goya's painted likeness with his own image in an
invisible mirror, hung just about where the viewer is stand­
ing. This would explain his frontal pose as well as his
expression of curious scrutiny. Goya's portrait differs rad­
ically from the more traditional Portrait of Carlos III by
Mengs (see FIC. 6-3), because it places the sitter in a genre
context. Rather than posing for the artist, the count seems
to be going about his usual affairs . His tasks, on this day,
include the approval of his portrait as well as the dis­
cussion of some floor plans with an architect. (The figure
in the background has been identified as Francesco Sab­
batini, the King's favorite architect .) While the portrait
still retains some Baroque conventions, such as the drap­
ery in the background (to which the painting is rather
incongruously attached), it clearly presents a new style
of portraiture, less formal and more intimately engaged
in the subject's life.
Goya's Portrait of the Count of Floridablanca contains sev­
eral references to Las Meninas (The Ladies in Waiting; FIC.
6-5 Francisco Goya, The WOlmded Mason, 1786-7. Oil on canvas,
6-7), a portrait of Infanta (Princess) Margarita Marfa and
8' 10" x 3'7" (2 .68 x 1. 1 m). Museo del Prado, Madrid her retinue by Diego Velazquez . Among them is its genre­
like character, the presence of the artist in the portrait,
and the play with mirrors (in Las Meninas, a mirror reflects
seem artificially pretty, Goya's figures seem earthy, more the Infanta's parents, the King and Queen). Goya's "quo­
real. The artist's contemporaries would immediately have tations" from Velazquez's work were probably intentional;
recognized the pair as a maja and majo , members of an urban the Spanish seventeenth-century court painter was his role
subculture in eighteenth-century Spain. Majas and majos model, and he intended to follow in his footsteps.

The Making of Francisco Goya 147

OPPOSITE 6-7 Diego Velazquez, Las Meninas (The Ladies il1 Waiting ), 1656 .
6-6 Francisco Goya, Portrait Oil on canvas, approximate ly 10'5/1 x 9' 1/1 (3. 18 x 2.76 m). Museo del
oj the Count oj Floridablanca, 1783 . Prado, Madrid.
Oil on canvas, 8'7/1 x 5'5/1
(2.62 x 1.66 m) . Banco de Espana,
Madrid .

The Making oj Fran cisco Goya 149

6-8 Francisco Goya, The Family oj Carlos IV 1800-01. Oil on canvas, 9'2" x 11' (2.8 x 3.36 Ill) Museo del Prado, Madrid .

Goya as Court Painter Luisa in the center, and Crown Prince Fernando on the
left. The women are bedecked with jewelry, and the men
The Portrait of the Count ofFloridablanca was an important step are covered with ribbons and insignia. Behind the group
toward Goya's goal of becoming a court painter. The count on the left, barely visible in the shadow, stands a soberly
introduced him to the King's brother, who then presented dressed Goya, facing a huge easel.
him to the King. In 1786 he was appointed Pintor del Rey It has often been noted that Goya's position behind the
(Painter to the King), the same position that Velazquez had royal family defies common sense unless we imagine a sce­
held in 1623. Three years later he was promoted to Court nario in which the royals are standing in front of a large
Painter, and finally, in 1799, he became First Court Painter. mirror and Goya is painting their reflection. To think of
By that time Carlos III had died and had been succeeded Goya's painting as a "copy" of a mirror image has the advan­
by his son, Carlos IV (ruled 1788-1808). The latter was tage that it offers an explanation for its uncompromising
a kindly man but an ineffective ruler, whose power was realism. This is especially noticeable in the portraits of the
usurped by his wife (who slept with the Prime Minister) king and queen-he with his beady eyes and swollen pink
and, in due course, by his son. Of this conniving clan, face, and she with her hooked nose, double chin, and vac­
Goya painted his most ambitious and intriguing portrait, uous smile. Although they look rather buffoonish to us
The Family of Carlos IV (FIC . 6-8). It is a life-size, full-length today, the royals apparently liked the painting. The Queen
portrait of the royal family, informally grouped around its was pleased, and the King authorized generous payment
three major members: Carlos IV on the right, Queen Marfa to the artist for his materials. like Floridablanca, they must

150 Fra11cisco Goya and Spa11ish Art at the Turn oj the Eighteenth Cf11tury
have looked for a mirror image of themselves in the por­ Coya's court status helped to make him a fashionable
trait, and Coya provided it quite faithfully. portraitist in aristocratic circles. Over the years, he painted
The presence of the artist in The Family of Carlos IV once numerous dukes, counts, marquises, and their families. The
again recalls Las lv1eninas. A comparison of the two royal Portrait of the Duchess of Alba (FI C . 6-9), widow of one of
portraits suggests, however, that Coya's attitude has become Coya's lifelong patrons, stands out for its originality. The
more ambivalent since he painted Floridablanca. Now a duchess is set against a loosely sketched landscape back­
master in his own right, Coya at once tried to emulate and ground . With one finger, she points to an inscription in
reject Velazquez's example. Thus while the inclusion of the sand which reads, "Solo Goya" Conly Coya"), hinting
his self-portrait recalls Velazquez, The Family of Carlos IV at her brief infatuation with the artist following her hus­
lacks both the genre character and the spatial depth of Las band's death. She wears the dress of a maja: a black
Meninas. Coya's figures are compressed in a shallow space, ankle-length skirt, girded at the waist with a red sash, and
much like Carlos III in his portrait by Mengs. But Coya's a black lace mantilla over a gold bodice . The loose, almost
picture lacks the formality and idealism of Mengs's Neo­ bravura technique that Coya uses sets his work apart from
classical portraits. Instead, he has brought a new informality that of his Neoclassical contemporaries in Spain and else­
and realism to court painting that anticipates nineteenth­ where in Europe . A detail of the painting, shown in FIG.
century portraiture and even photography (see FIC. t 4- t). 6- t 0, shows how masterfully he depicts the black lace with

6-9 Francisco Goya, Portrait oj the Duchess

oj Alba, 1797. Oil on canvas , 6' 10" x 4' 10"
(2.1 x 1.49 m). Hi spanic Soci ety of Am erica,
New Yo rk.

6- 10 Francisco Goya, detail of fig 6-9 ,

Portrait oj the Duchess oj Alba.

Goya as Court Pail1ter 151

 Etching

Next to engraving (see Reproducing Works of Art; page 33), in the lines that the artist has drawn. The etched lines will get
etching was the most commonly used technique to print deeper and wider the longer they are left in the acid. After
images in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. While the etching process is complete, the ground is removed and
engraving was largely practiced by professional printmakers, the plate is inked with a roller. The surface of the plate is
often for the purpose of making reproductive prints, etching subsequently wiped clean so that the ink stays only in the
was a fine-art medium that attracted such well-known artists lines. A sheet of paper is placed over the plate and the two
as Rembrandt in the seventeenth century, and Tiepolo, are run through a press so that the ink in the lines is pressed
Piranesi, and Goya in the eighteenth. on to the paper.
Etchings are printed from metal (usually copper) plates In the course of the seventeenth and eighteenth
into which designs are "bitten" by strong chemical acids . To centuries, the etching technique became ever more
produce an etching, the artist covers a copper plate with a sophisticated. The invention of the aquatint process allowed
thin layer of etching ground, a soft mixture of resin, wax, and artists to add tone and even color to the lines of their
tar. In this layer, he draws with an etching needle, scratching etchings . Goya, in particular, mastered the aquatint
the ground away so that the copper is exposed. The plate is technique, which allowed him to create dramatic chiaroscuro
then placed in a bath of acid, which etches away the copper effects in his prints.

a few virtuoso strokes. It is a style of painting that had context of pictorial satire. This tradition originated in
evolved from the artist's early occupation as a tapestry Britain with the prints of William Hogarth (see page 32)
designer, which had required broad strokes and rapid exe­ and continued to flourish in that country during the lat­
cution . At the same time, Goya's brushwork is reminiscent ter part of the century, thanks to artists such as James
of Velazquez in its bold application of paint.

6-11 Francisco Goya, Se qucbro el cantaro! (SOI11e011e Broke the Pitcher!),

from Los Caprichos, no. 25, 1797-8. Etching and aquatint, 8:Y1 6 x 6"
Goya's Prints (20.7 x 15.2 cm) Hispanic Society of America, New York ( 1799 edition )

In 1799 Goya published an album of eighty etchings, enti­

tled Los Caprichos (The Fancies) . This was a new medium
for the artist, who had thus far done mostly altarpieces,
tapestry cartoons, and portraits (see Etching, above). With
the Caprichos, Goya not only turned to a new medium,
printmaking, but he also set himself up as an independent
artist, who produced and marketed his own work.
Goya put a notice in the Diario de Madrid, the city's main
newspaper, to advertise the Caprichos. He described his
prints as "A Collection of Prints of Capricious Subjects,
Invented and Etched by Don Francisco Goya," and noted
that they were for sale in a local "perfume and liquor" shop
for 320 reales. He further elaborated:

Since the artist is convinced that the censure of

human errors and vices (though they may seem the
province of Eloquence and Poetry) may also be the
object of Painting, he has chosen as subjects
adequate for his work, from the multitude of follies
and blunders common in evelY civil society, as well
as from the vulgar prejudices and lies authorized by
custom, ignorance or interest, those that he has
thought most suitable matter for ridicule.

By advertising his prints as a form of social commen­

tary, Goya placed them into a broader eighteenth-century

152 Francisco Goya and Spanish Art at the Turn oj the EIghteenth Century
Gillray (1757-1815) and Thomas Rowlandson (1756-1827). of the world as a nightmare. Goya has depicted strange
British satirical prints were certainly known in Spain because creatures of the night (bats, owls, witches, goblins, giants,
they were widely exported throughout Europe. While etc.) for the purpose of making satirical comments. In
British printmakers tended toward political satire (see CapriciJo no . 68, Linda macstra! (A Fine Teacher!), an o ld
Georgian Britain, page 74), Goya focused on social satire. wi tch teaches a young one how to ride a broom (FIG.
As a court painter, he was not likely to attack the royal 6-12). The print exposes people's eagerness to follow bad
regime, even though some of his cartoons targeted the examples, even though the results of doing so (becoming
clergy and the landed aristocracy, which gained renewed an ugly, haggard old witch) are evidently negative.
power under Carlos IV In his CapriclJos, Goya expressed Also in the second group is an e tching that was, at one
enlightened opinions at a time when the Enlightenment point, probably intended as the album's frontispiece­
was rapidly losing ground . CapriciJo no. 43, EI sueno de la raz6n produce monstrHos (The
The CapriciJos fall into two groups . In the first forty or Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters; FIG. 6-13). It shows
so prints, societal ills are depicted in a straightforward way. an artist, perhaps Goya himself, asleep at his drawing table
CapriciJo no. 25, for example, shows an enraged mother and assaulted (presumably in a dream) by owls and bats.
beating her child (FIG . 6-11). "Se quebr6 el cantaro!" ("Some­ The print seems to comment on human existence in gen­
one Broke the Pitcher!") reads the caption, suggesting the eral, and on the work of the artist in particular. First of all,
mother's justification for abuse. The message here is clear: the print suggests that the evils of the world come about
people accuse others of wrongdoing, without seeing the when reason sleeps. When man is not rationally in co n­
wrongs they do themselves . trol, then instinct, emotion, and superstition can overtake
A second group of CapriciJos presents fantastic imagery, him. The more specific, artistic meaning of the print is
rooted in an old literary convention of describing the evils elucidated by Goya himself in his caption, which reads:

6-12Francisco Goya, Linda l11aestm ! (A Fine Teacher!), from Los 6- 13 Francisco Goya, El sueiio de la rat6n produce 11101I s tnlOs (The
Capnchos, no. 6S , 1797-S. Etching and aquatint , S% x 6" (21.3 x 15 cm ) Sleep oj Reason Produces MOl1sters ), from Los Capncbos, no. 43 , 1797- S.
Hispanic Society of America, New York ( 1799 edition). Etching and aquatint , SI/2 x 6" (216 x 15 cm ) H ispanic Society of
America , New York ( 1799 edition)

Goya's Prints 153

6-14 Francisco Goya, Grande h(JzaHa! COI1 11Juertos! (Great Herois11J! With Dead MCJ1 !), from Los Dcsastrcs de la GlleITa (Tbe Disasters oj Wnr), no . 39,
c. 181 0- 15 . Etching and aquatint, Briti sh Museum , London .

"Imagination abandoned by reason produces impossible weapons they could lay their hands on-pitchforks, axes,
monsters; united with her, she is the mother of the arts knifes , etc. The Desastres depicts scenes from this war, some
and the source of their wonders." This summarizes Goya's of which Goya may have witnessed on a trip he made from
view of artistic creation as a process in which imagination Madrid to Zaragoza. Although the artist supported the
is held in check by reason . juntas, his prints seem impartial since he shows the French
Although the Capric1Jos brought little financial success, and the Spanish alike committing extreme atrocities. Grande
Goya produced three more albums in the years to come . iJazafia ! Con n1uertos ! (Great Heroism ! With Dead Men!; FIC .
Of these, Los Desastres de la Guerra (The Disasters of War), 6-14 ) exemplifies his virutal obsession with the brutality
of 1810-15, is perhaps the most poignant, because the of war. Three castrated, mutilated corpses and some body
prints in this album show what happens when mankind parts are tied to a tree . It is impossible to make out whether
abandons reason , and hatred and revenge take control of they are French or Spanish . The emphasis is on the hor­
human behavior. The series was prompted by political ror of war-a time when human decency disappears and
events that dramatically changed the Spain that Goya had bestiality reigns.
known in his youth. In 1807 Napoleon turned his atten­
tion to conquering Spain . Using force, threats, and political
manipulation , he persuaded the royal family to step down, The Execution of the Rebels
and put his brother Joseph on the throne . Riots broke out
in Madrid on May 2, 1808 (Spain's national holiday ), and Although Goya completed eighty-two plates , between
a bloody war of independence ensued that would last for about 1810 and 1815 , the Desasfres series was not published
six years. In this guerrilla war, small groups of resisters (so­ until 1863 , some thirty-five years after the artist's death.
called juntas) attacked French army units with whatever Perhaps Goya felt that it was impossible to sell the series ,

154 Francisco Goya and Spanish Art at the Turn of the Eighteenth Century
6-15 Francisco Goya, The ExecutloH oJ the Rebels 011 the Thi,-d oJ May, 1808, 1814. Oil on canvas, 8'8" x 11'4" (2.66 x3.45 m). Museo del Prado, Madrid.

either because the prints were too explicit or because they

did not glorify the Spanish rebels sufficiently.
Coya was sensitive to the use of art as propaganda, and
acted accordingly. In two large canvases, painted in 1814,
he represented two significant events at the beginning of
the war. One was the riot in Madrid on May 2, 1808; the
other was the bloody execution of the rebels by French
soldiers the next day. Coya proposed these two paintings,
and perhaps two more, to the government and eventually
was given a small monthly stipend to carry them out. In
The Execution of the Rebels on the Third of May, 1808 (FIG. 6- 15)
we see a group of captured rebels, led under cover of night
6- 16 The Execution oJ Five Fran ciscan Friars at the Hand oJ a French
to an execution ground, where a French firing squad shoots Fi,-ing Squad, 1813 . Illustration of Memorias Hist6ricas de la .Muerte [.
them one by one. The powerful contrast between the sol­ . ] de los RR. PP [. .. ] Jusllados par los J,-a11 cfses eI dia 18 de El1ero
diers and the rebels brings the dramatic scene to life. The 1812 (Val e ncia , 1813). Engraving by Mi g ue l Gamborino, probably
after a drawing by Andres Crua. Biblioteca Naci o nal , Madrid.
soldiers, seen from the back, resemble automatons with
their identical uniforms and poses. The rebels, lit by the
lamp, show their humanity, mortality, and courage in the a gesture both desperate and defiant. Some art historians
face of death. The man about to be executed shows a dra­ have compared his pose to that of the crucified Christ,
matic range of emotions. Dressed in a white shirt and light explaining it as Coya's way of portraying the struggle
pants, kneeling before his captors, he raises up his arms in between Spanish Catholicism and French atheism.

The Execution oJ the Rebels 155

 6- 17 Francisco Goya, Saturn Devouring One
oj iJis Children, 1820-1823 . Mural transferred to
canvas, 57Ys x 32 ~s" ( 1.45111 x 83 CI11 ). Museo del
Prado, Madrid .

The Execution of the Rebels is unprecedented in the his­ prints were not commissioned by kings or generals as
tory of painting, since it represents neither a glorious nationalist propaganda . Instead, they were sold to com­
victory nor a hero ic bat tle . Instead it portrays human mon folk, perhaps to induce their patriotism. Goya , too ,
slaughter in all its sordidness. Yet, whil e this raw subject must have envisioned his paintings as public works , to
had never before been treated in high art, it did appear be hung in places where they would be accessible to
in eighteenth-century popular prints such as the anony­ everyone. Unfortunately, nothing is known about the
mous pri n t from 1813 showi ng the slaugh ter of five way in which they were displayed after Goya had fin­
Franciscan friars by French so ldiers ( FIC. 6 -16). These ished them .

156 Frm1cisco Goya and Spanish Art at the Trim oj the Eighteenth Cen tmy
Casa del Sordo g rotesque example, illustrates the myth of th e Ro ma n god
Saturn , who is told that one o f his ch ildren w il l de th ro ne
The restoration of Fernando VII to the throne in 18 14 d id h im. To p reve nt th is, he dec ides to eat them o ne by one.
not bring a renewal of portrait commissions fro m the aris­ In Goya's image, Saturn emerges from the dark, h is face
tocracy. Apart from a few church commissio ns, Goya had d istorted wi th hatred and fe ar. His mouth o pens w ide to
to produce for an uncertain market. Between 1814 and his take another bite fro m a human, whose muti lated form recalls
death in 1828, he did two more print albums, o ne devoted the bodies in the Desastres. Goya was between seve nty -four
to bullfighting (Tauromaquia ), the othe r a satirical se ri es an d seve nty -six years o f age when he d id these pai nti ngs,
(Los Proverbios , or The Proverbs) analogous to Los Caprichos. an d h is vi ew shows an ol d man's sense o f bi tterness and
He also produced a number of genre paintings, so me o f defeat. He had seen the worl d chan ge from a place ruled
which recalled his early tapestry designs . Perhaps most by reaso n and optimism to one con troll ed by fea r, mad ness,
unusual among his late works is a series of murals made an d destruction . Saturn Devouring One of his Children represents
for his country house just outside Madrid. Nickn am ed th e G oya's conclusio n tha t mankind is ultimately self-des truc­
House of the Deaf Mal\ or Quinta del Sordo (Goya had tive, for to kil l one's o ffsp ring is to destroy the hl tu re.
become deaf after an illness in 1792), it contained fo ur­
teen large paintings, done directly on the plaster, in the
main rooms on the first and second floors . These paint­ Spanish Art after Goya
ings depict scenes from religion, myth , and dail y li fe,
seeming to recreate the Caprichos on a larger scale . like Goya so dominates our modern -d ay no ti on of Spa nish art
the latter, they illustrate a journey from reality into a dream at the en d of the eigh teen th cen tu ry tha t we o ften forget
world, in which evil comes alive. (It has rece ntly bee n sug­ that he was just one o f many artis ts workin g in Spain at
gested that the paintings in the Casa del Sordo were the time . His work was admired by h is co ntem po raries for
executed by Goya's son ; until further proof is adduced, its inve ntiveness, bravu ra techni que , and mas te ry of color.
they will probably continue to be attributed to the fath er.) At the same time , he was critici zed for a lack of pati ence
Saturn Devouring One of His Children (FI C. 6- 17), a particu la rly and d isc ipli ne an d for his d isregard of the ru les of art.

6-18 Jose de Madrazo y Agudo, The Death of Viriato, 1808 . O il o n canvas, 10' I" x 15'2" (307 x 4.62 Ill ) M useo d e l Prad o, Madrid.

Spal1ish Art after Goya 157

 Coya had few followers in Spain, in part because the Andromache or The Death of Socrates; see FlCS. 2-17 and 2-19),
Academy, reformed by Mengs, promoted a Classical cur­ although it lacks their sobriety and simplicity.
riculum. Most of the young painters used a style that was Coya's successor as First Court Painter, Vicente Lopez
related to that of David . In fact, many of them studied with (1772-1850), studied not with David, but at the Academy
David, who, at the turn of the eighteenth century, headed in Madrid, where, thanks to Mengs, he was likewise trained
a huge teaching studio that attracted aspiring artists from all along Neoclassical lines. Lopez was one of the most impor­
over Europe. Jose de Madrazo (1781-1859) is an excellent tant portrait painters in Spain in the first half of the
example of one of Coya's counterparts . His early The Death nineteenth century. In addition to numerous portraits of
of Viriato (FIC. 6-18) differs radically from Coya's Execution of the royal family (his Portrait of Fernando VII is in the His­
the Rebels in style and iconography. Rather than representing panic Society in New York ), he painted a portrait of Coya
a contemporalY war scene, it refers to it indirectly by rep­ at age eighty, two years before the artist's death (FIC. 6­
resenting a scene of Spanish resistance to Roman occupation 19). Done in the detailed, meticulous Neoclassical fashion,
in the second century BeE. Viriato, the hero of that war, led the portrait contrasts interestingly with Coya's own Self­
a guerrilla troop against the Romans. His death, at the hand Portrait (FIC. 6-20), painted eleven years earlier. The latter,
of two of his soldiers who had been bribed by the enemy, painted in the sketchy manner of Coya's later years, shows
signified the end of Spanish resistance. It also exposed the the artist the way he saw himself-a rugged individualist,
evil and cowardice of his Roman enemies. Madrazo's Death worn by the trials and tribulations of life . Lopez's portrait,
of Viriato exemplifies Neoclassical painting in its Classical, more official and public in nature, shows a different Coya:
heroic theme as well as in its frieze-like composition. It calls feisty and crusty, but self-confident in the knowledge of
to mind some of David's famous deathbed scenes (such as his significance in the history of Spanish art.

6-19 Vicente Lopez, Portrait oj

Fra/1 cisco Goya, 1826. Oil on canvas,
3612 x 291,12" (93 x 75 cm ). Museo del
Prado , Madrid .

158 FraJ1 cisco Goya al1d S/)aJ1ish Art at the Tilr11 oj the Eighteenth Century
6-20 Francisco Goya, Self-Portrait, 1815. Oil on canvas, 18 x 13 %" (46 x 35 cm).
Museo del Prado , Madrid.

Spanish Art after Goya 159