Goya - Black Paintings.pdf

Goya:

Black

Paintings

Fundacion

Amigos

del

Museo

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Second edition: 1999 (December)

All rightsreserved.The contents ofthisworkareprotectedbytheLaw,which

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Cover and interiordesignby Angel Uriarte

Translation by John Pownall

AxonometricprojectionsbyAnaPazoEspinosa

Edition byCarmen Ponce deLeonand Manuel Florentfn

Layout by AntonioMartm

©

Valeriano Bozal, 1999

©

FundacionAmigosdelMuseodel Prado

ISBN:84-922260-9-9 Depositolegal: M. 1455-2000

Impreso enJOSMAR, S.A., c/Artesanfa, 17. Pol. Ind.Coslada(Madrid) Printed inSpain

The

"Black Paintings" isthe

name

given to that series ofoils

that

Goya

painted directlyontothe walls oftwooftherooms

of his country house between 1819-20 and 1823 and that

by

which

they have

come

to be

known,

albeitthis overall

title for

them

can only be authenticated for the 20th

Cen-tury.

Whether

or not theywere previously socalled,

we

do

not know.

Of

all Goya's works, these have, perhaps, the

most

immediate

impact for us

and

this not only for the natureoftheirsubject matter or thesombre, blackened and overpowering

way

in

which

this is conveyed but as

much

again fortheirstarkly arresting visual

punch

and the

power

oftheirexpressivity tobutton holeour responses across the

ages.These areno commissioned stuff, inthese works

Goya

bowed

to no one's taste but his

own

and so put

down

his

thoughts on Man'sestateand the

WoHd.

His influenceupon

contemporary Expressionism and Surrealism has been

gigan-tic and his delineating of things absurd, violent and

irra-tional has

become

a

model

that bestrides

modern

culture.

The

paintings

come

from

two

rooms of similar size but

dif-fering layout,

one

upstairs, the other

down,

in the house

grand-son in 1823

when

he

was

driven

away

to France. The

mean-ingoftheworks has been the subject of

much

livelydebate

and

as yet there is no general agreement

among

the

vari-ous schools as to the

same

and so it

would

be as well to

have all the facts to

hand

before

making

a go atan

expla-nation ofthem.

The

firstfact is Goya's buying hiscountry house, "La Quinta

del Sordo" (The Deaf Man's Place).

Why

he bought an out

oftown house-closetothe presentday PaseodeExtremadura

- and

made

it his

permanent

residence can be explained

in the lightofvarious factors and thefirst ofthese must be

political. After the Peninsular War, the restored King

Fer-dinand VII let lose an absolutist repression

upon

Madrid

life

and

especially against any such

who,

like Goya, had hadpro-french or liberal friendsand werethus seen askance

by the Inquisition.

Then

personal considerations must be

borne in mind, the artists' age, his poor health

and

even, perhaps,the affair he might havebeen having with Leoca-dia Zorrilla, not to mention, though

we

must, the taste he had acquired forcomfortable middleclass living forwhich

the

new

house

made

a veryworthy setting. Professionally,

there isthefactthe

Goya

had been gradually easing up on

his activity as Painter to the Royal Household, his

obliga-tions here being met,

more

and more, by Vicente Lopez. This is by no

means

tosay the

Goya

renounced his post as the kings painter however, for he held

on

tothis evenafter

his flightto France.

These self

same

factors also serve to allowfora discussion

ofthedrives thatgave risetotheworks themselves, for they

are shot through with a sharp disdain for institutions like

the Inquisition, scorn both violence and

empty

habit, are

as it does his stateof

mind

and ofheart. Pictures he

would

have found it hard to have

done

had he been fully busied

with fulfilling his duties as Painter Royal. Be all this as it

might be, it is as true that the

tremendous

physical

out-pouring that the "Black Paintings" represent is not

com-monly

found

among

the depressed. His scorn forthe

Inqui-sition is against a

body

formally abolished in

March

1

820

in a

moment

of

hope

for the liberals

who

had

made

Fer-dinand VII submit to swearing the Constitution of 1812.

To

this must be

added

the fact that the works

were

con-ceived as "General (pictorial) Reflexions" and not as rep-resentingany concrete or special events. This leads

me

to

think of the "Black Paintings" as being the

outcome

of a

process of drawing overall conclussions or

summing

up

both from the political

march

of events and the artist's

pri-vate and professional experiences and, as such, of

them

as not beingtied in with giving shape tothings specific but rather as representing

new

insights into a world seen as

essentially tragic.

The

"Black Paintings" asa

Composite

Creation

Goya

paintedfourteenoils in all directlyonto the walls oftwo

rooms,

rooms which

measured approximately 9.02 x 4.51 metres and differed as to the surfaces available. In each of

the side walls ofthe lower

room

there

were

two

gaps that

thus

imposed

a broad horizontal composition

between

them, whereas in the upper room, therebeing but

one

gap,

called for.

The

remaining, vertical formatworks

were

done

on either side of the rooms' doors.

The

original placing of

each

work

has long taxed the historian, as this is seen as

being

one

ofthe keys tothe overall developmentof images undertaken by the artist.

They were

executed between 1819/20and 1823 and their

existence

was

attested byAntonio Brugada in his inventory

of the effects

made

on

the painter's death (1828).

They

stayed

where

they werebut nonetoo well looked after until

the last

owner

ofthe house, Baron F.E. d'Erlanger called in Salvador

Martmez

Cubells, the then restorer to the Prado

Museum,

to lift

them

and re-back

them

on canvas in 1874.

After being

shown

at the Paris

World

Fair of 1878, they

were

made

overto the State in 1881 and thus

came

to us

atthe Prado

Museum.

Transferring

them

to canvasentailed changes in their size,

some

damage,

some

touching up and re-painting despite

which

theworks

were

not robbed oftheiraesthetic impact nor their

power

ofsuggestion. X-ray study has revealed that

they are painted over other, unfinished, works thatwere in

the main, brighter landscape studieswith small figures

much

more

in keeping with the decoration for a country house.

When

he painted these nor

why

he painted

them

over or

outis, likewise,

unknown

to us as if

why

heattimes retained

parts of

them

at others obliterated

them

altogether or

why

he always altered their

mood.

Some

idea of

them

can be

had

from the

background

landscape to

The

Single Stick

Duel and

the left

background

to The Pilgrimage to Saint

Isidro's Spring{he artist in both cases here leaving in part

ofhis first

work

as valid.

Itshould always be rememberedthatthese area linked series

ofworks, a whole, and thatthere is

much

relevantinterplay

two rooms

they did so for this has

much

to offer towards

both an understanding and an appreciation ofthem.

-

Ground

floor room: Saturn Devouringoneofhis

Child-ren, Judith

and

Holofernes,

A

Manola:

Dona

Leocadia

Zorrilla,

Two

Friars,

Two

Old

People Eating, Sabbath

(The Great He-Coat), Saint Isidro's Pilgrimage.

-

Upper

Floor

Room:

Two

Women

and

a

Man,

The

Reading (The Politicians), TheSingle Stick Duel, The

Pilgrimage to Saint Isidro'sSpring, The Fates (Atropos, Clotho

and

Lachesis), TheSabbath (Asmodea),

A

Drown-ingDog.

Historians have never

come

to any agreement about the subjectmatter of

some

ofthe picturesand it

would

be

odd

ifthe visitor

were

not to find

them

puzzling.

To

guide the

visitor, to guideanother's eye isthen butto help itfind out

for itself a possible 'why' these works are as they are, to

suggest a 'what', and point out things worthy of attention.

There works are open-ended images and though hermetic in much, in

much

elseamazingly immediate.

No

guide can

either see for the visitor not react in his stead. But he can

THE

GROUND

FLOOR

ROOM

Saturn

Devouring

one

of his Children

Judith

and

Holofernes

A

Manola:

Dona

Leocadia Zorrilla

Two

Friars

Two

Old

People Eating

Sabbath

(The

Great

He

Goat)

Saint isidro's Pilgrimage

SATURN JUDITH

AND

HOLOFERNES >

Z

5

70

O

o

>

A

MANOLA

TWO

FRIARS

ENTRANCE

Layout ofthe "Black Paintings" in the lower

room

of

Saturn

Devouring one

of his Children (Cat. No. 763)

Also

known

simply as Sat- ous

war

againsttheblood

urn, this

work

is of

key

sprungGiantsorTitans.

Sat-importance

for the under- urn hasjustly

become

seen

standing ofthegroundfloor asthe presiding mytholog-asawhole.

Goya

heregives ical deity of

Death and

us an often

engraved

and

Time,

Old Age

and

Melan-much

painted subject of choly

and

of Drought, the engraving. Saturn, Cronus, genius of

War,

Dearth

and

Time

is a

mythological

Catastrophes,

archetype

to

be found

in

The

moment

in thetale that

Hesiod's

Theogony:

sonof has

most

often seized the

Gea,

Mother

Earth, hecas- artistic imagination is that

trates his father,

Uranus,

in

which

Saturn devours his

with a flint sickle given to children.

A

good example

him

by

his

mother,

the of this is P.P.

Rubens

5af-blood flowing from

the urnof

1636

in the Prado's

wound

-besidesfertilizing

own

collection, a

work

pos-theworld -bringsintobeing sibly

known

to

Goya

him-the Erinnyes or Furies, the self.

The

visitor

could

do

Giants or Titans

and

the worsethan takea brieflook

Nymphs.

LaterSaturn,

now

at both works, the better to

wed

to his sister

Rhea,

appreciate

how

very

dif-devours their off-spring as ferently these

two

giants

soon

as they are

born

but understood the scene,

theirmothermanagestocun- Rubens goes along with tra-ningly savethe youngest, ditional

iconography and

Zeus who, once

come

to gives us an ancient Saturn

manhood,

compels

his sire

who,

clasping a scythe in

toregurgitatehisbrood

and

his right

hand and

sat

upon

land-Ground

Floor

scape, is

busy

at bolting

down

a little boy.

Goya

gives us

none

ofthis,

makes

no

hint at

where

the action

is taking place, does

away

with the

prop

scythe

and

even the victim is

no

longer

a loveable

wee

child.

The

victim, as ithas its

back

to theviewer

and

is headless,

we

know

no

more

about

than that it is adult,

young

and,

by

its buttocks, thighs

and

legs,

more

likely a

woman

than a

man.

Goya, though

he

has

no

truck with its

mythologi-cal trappings,

makes

all

the

more

of the cruelty of the

scene

which

he

raises to the heights of

parox-ysm:

Old

Saturn's

eyes

bulge, his

maw

drools, his

hands

mangle

at a corpse 14

more

fit for a

shambles

all

of

which

underscores the

terrible

humanness

ofthe scene.

The

close night, the

light that plays

upon

the

victim (female?)

and

the

god's visage, the gory red,

the inertia of the

cadaver

as against the ancient's excitement, all highlight the scene's blatantly

neg-ative

charge.

There

is

nothing here

of

Melan-choly nor

even

Death,

here is the loathsome

cru-elty that an old

man

might exercise

upon

a

young

woman.

Goya's

trick of

deforming

the

human

body, its

move-ments

and

limbs to create

an impression oflatent

bes-tiality can

be found

in the

work

of

such

present

day

painters as the Dublin born englishman Francis Bacon.

The

blatant

and

uncom-promising visual

stamp

of the images, the rank gloomi-ness of the anecdote, the

unashamed

pictorial factof

the figures

and

the lack of

all narrative

packaging

to

the

whole

are

what

make

this expressive scene

Judith

and

Holofernes

(Cat. No. 764)

This painting forms a pair with Saturnthough herethe

tale runs vice-versa

and

a

woman

it is

who

kills a

man.

The

title refers to a biblical scene (Judith 13),

in

which

Judith lops offthe

head

of Holofernes.

As

in

Saturn,

Goya

makes

noth-ingofthe setting

and

goes,

head

down,

forthe action:

here

we

see the

sweep

of the

arm

with thesword, the gesture

and

stance of the

woman,

that of the pro-curess-like servant

while

the severed head in the

bot-tom

right

hand

corner all

but goes unnoticed.

The

lighting

makes

great play of Judith's femininity, her physical presence, her

naked

bust

and

arms, her

modern

seeming headdress.

Goya

needs

none

of the jewels nor rich dress that the biblical tale refers to.

The

setting for the scene

-the interior of Holofernes'

tent

-

is given the

sketchi-est treatment

-

just a dark

backdrop

with neither

hangings

nor other fur-nishings that

might

fix it.

The

woman's

violent act,

its cruel

energy

are

what

the attention focuses

upon

and

focused, it

cannot

do

other than see the act as

being

very like so

many

others as violent in sortthat

Goya

had

broughtthe eye

to in his

times

such

as

those he

had

witnessed in

the Peninsular

War

or dur-ing the absolutist reaction that followed in its

wake.

Butyet again, Goya's

mas-tery of his

theme

is

shown

by

the lack

here

of

any

anecdotal fixing detail, an

absence

thatthus lends his

image

a universal,

A

Manola*:

Dona

LeocadiaZorrilla

(Cat. No. 754)

A

femalefigurerestsagainst havebeen led tobelievethat

a funerary

mound.The

paint- she

could

well

have been

ingstoodacrossfromSaturn his

own

natural daughter.

and

Judith

and

Holofernes

Be

she

Leocadia

or not

and

would

have

seemed

to

-

and

the figure

shown

contemplate them.

The

seems younger

than Leoca-Manola'spose corresponds dia

who

was

already 32 in

to the established

mode

of 1

820

-

the picture is not so depicting

Melancholy,

much

a portrait as an

alle-Much

ink has

been

spilt gory that turns

upon

the

upon

who

this

woman

was

veiledbeautyofthe

Manola

and it isthoughtthatshe

was

andthe funerary

mound.

Her Leocadia Zorrilla, wife to thoughtful

gaze does

not

IsidoroWeiss,though

what

quite lift the

eye from

her

she

meant

tothe painterstill slim

and

supple body, her

remains rather cloudy.

We

generousbustorthoseever

do

know

thatshe livedwith sotinyfeet...

The open

back-Goya

in hishouse

and

went

ground

is in contrastwith

along with himto Bordeaux, focal grouping

and

is, with

and

that the then

aged

itsbluesandclouds,amongst

painterdoted

upon

Rosario, the happiest ofGoya's

out-Leocadia's daughter, so put.

Here

the overalltoneis

much

so that there

have

not

brooding

though

the

been

some

historians that foregroundgroup issolemn.

FashionableMadridSociety'tooktoapingthestylesandmannersofthe

city's demi-mondains, male and female, in Goya'stimesand farsome

Two

Friars (Cat. No. 759)

This

work complements

Leocadia

and

was

to

be

found

on

the other side of the entrance. Its title,

Two

Friars, does notreallyanswer

to

what

Goya

has painted,

for here a bearded ancient

wrapped

in a

cape and

propping

himself

up

with

a staff is

whispered

at

by

a

deformed

mannikin.

The

only hint of

what

is going

on

is given

by

the contrast

between

the

two

figures.

The

elderly

bearded

man,

both in his face

and

ges-ture, bears a

stamp

of

dig-nity, a quality not to

be

found in thewhisperer with his beastly

maw,

brow

wrinkling upacross his skull

and

what

would

appearto

be

huge

and

pointed ears.

The

jangler has

many

ofthe

traits of a fiend

and

to that

fraternitycouldwell belong.

Goya

often

drew

such

fig-ures.

While

his

hand

was

greatatportrayingtheyoung,

especially

young

women,

so

it

was

with theagedas well.

Ifthe

young

breath their

sen-suality

and

erotic being, the

aged are all ambiguity, have

sunk

into a time of defor-mity,

have

lost

any

charm

they might

once have had

and

are leftwith naughtbut a dignity, like that of the

bearded fellow, to lendtheir

lives something positive. If

the fiend is intimating the

old

man's

end

to him, the ancientat leastcan bearthe

news

with serenity.

Maybe

it

would

be

going

to far to see a kind of

metaphoric self-portrait of

Goya

himself in the

good

old

man

but then again the

fact is that he

was

old -

74

in 1

820

-

and had

already

heard his call given

more

Two

Old

People Eating

(Cat. No. 762)

It is not

known

exactly

Goya's

skill

when

giving

where

this picture stood, us a

powerful

yet

enig-Both

its size

and

format

matic subject is here

once

would seem

to

argue

for again amazing.

The

crone's

over

one

ofthe doors so it gaze, the

wicked

grin

on

could

well

have

figured the

gummy

mouth,

the over the

entrance

to the

over-pronounced

chin are downstairs room. However,

echoed

in the acolyte,

certain technical consider-

What

this

second

creature ations

might

lead to its is pointing at is anybody's being

understood

as hav- guess. Arethey papers they ing

been

done

for the havebeforethem, a list

per-upstairs room. There is lit- haps? Is thefateofthose

on

tieto

no

agreementasto its it beingwhispered aboutto

contenteither.

Only one

of the grinning hag?

As

so

the old

people

holds a often in this master's work,

spoon

and

is

about

to eat

what

is suggested orcould

and

what

is

more,

looks

be

supposed

swamps

mere

more

like an old

woman

certainty,

than a

man.

The

other fig-

These

creatures are at

one

ure pointing at her (?) side withthecastofwitches and

looks like an eyeless corpse

crones

with

which

Goya

and could well bean image

peoples

so

many

of his of

Death

itself. drawings, plates

and

paint-The

subject is as hermetic ings

and

blend intothe sub-as the

work

is simple

and

ject matter of

many

other

Ground

Floor

of the "Black Paintings".

Rather than reflecting the

World

as it is, they, through allegory,

do

so as it is

sensed

to be.

Those

who

dwell within this

world

of

shades

and

expressive

dra-matic effects are

emblem-aticofthe paintings proper

to this room.

The

counterpoint

here

between

the genre nature of the

work's

motif

and

Goya's

treatment of the

same

is notonlyeye

catch-ing but mostdisturbing.

By

rights,

we

should

be

enjoy-ing the

most domestic

of

scenes

but the

way

in

which

the sharp old

hag

is

expressed has blighted this

expected pleasure, has so

fractured it as to turn it

inside out. This shattering of conventional

expecta-tions is aconstant

outthe

whole

gamut

ofthe

"Black Paintings"

where

everyday subjects aregiven,

timeand again, darklytragic

overtones. Even the appar-ently mythological

refer-ence

of

some

ofthe scenes

is

peeled

away

by

Goya

who

draws

our attention

rather to the alarmingly

come-day-go-day

realities

that tie in with his 'high' subject matter.

Despite its size

-

it is the

smallest of the "Black

Paint-ings"-

Two

Old

People

Eat-ing is a most striking work,

its skull-like faces being charged notonly with irony but stamped, withal, with a

most

sarcastic

grimace by

which

the artist breathes a horrid sort of liveliness into

what, otherwise,

would

be

little

more

than

two

Sabbath (The

Great

He

Goat)

(Cat. No. 761)

From

the left

hand

sidewall of the lower

room,

this is

the only "black painting" that

had

no

neighbours.

Goya

has here used a

free-handed

brush stroke that

has followed the pure ges-ture of his wrist

and

hand

as ifabroad house painter's

stroke

were

aimed

at, this

giving the

work

dynamism

and

lending

rhythm

and

direction tothe faces ofthe

assembled witches

crowd-ing before a devil in he-goat's

shape

who

presides

over the rite assisted

by

a secretary/curateto his right.

Setapart, a

young

woman,

still almost a child, awaits

herinitiationsat uponachair.

The

mob

ofwitchesthatare thefocus ofthescene is not

caught

in

motion

and

yet

is not still,

being fanned

alive bythe brush work, its

stroke

and

the composition

endowing

the

mass

with a

terrible

mute dynamism

as

though all

were

fired

by

a dreadful ecstasy.

The

faces

in itaredeformed, the

bod-ies

doubled

up

or over,

some show

fear. Ifthey are

closely examined, different

types of folk can

be

made

out, for,

though

most

are witches, there is afriarjust

in front ofthe "curate"

and

a

working

man

or

farm

hand

in thethird head from

the far left.

These

charac-ter sketches

do

not,

how-ever, disturb the

mass

vor-texfeel ofthewhole, afeat

Ground

Floor

the rest of the painters of

his times.

The

setting is left vague.

Certain objects

and

fore-ground

references

would

seem

to

bespeak

some-where

out-of-doors but

what

then of the close atmospheric darkness that

crowds

the left

and upper

background?

We

are thus within a

metaphor

for the world,

and

"metaphoric" is

the sense of Life that the child

woman

is

about

to learn of, as her initiation

will

be

intothings deathly.

Goya

here returnsto a sub-ject matter that

had

exer-cised his imagination atthe

tail

end

ofthe 18th Century

in drawings, plates

and

paintings, but

now

there is

no

comic

touch

or

even

critical tone.

He

does

not

here attack witchcraft or

even

mock

it, he but

shows

Night's

own

world.

The

crowding witches

and

their

like, the presiding and over-bearing

male

goat, its being

contrasted withthe maiden, areall dramatic stratagems

that the circular 'spin' of the

composition

further heightens.

Be

it formally,

icono-graphically or semantically,

Goya's

works

are in

many

ways

heralds of

many

aspect of

modern

art. His

pictorial approach, visual

punch, the expressivity of a brush

work

that at times

seems

downright gestural,

the

ease

with

which

he

shapes

the irrational, the

deformity

and

weird

sea

changes

in his figures are all still to

be found

as

nov-elties in theart

and

culture

Saint Isidro's Pilgrimage (Cat. No. 760)

This painting

must

bringto

mind

those paintings

Goya

did in the 1 8th Century of

public holidays

and

events, especiallythe

one

he

drew

up

asa cartoon fora

tapes-try never, alas, realized,

on

the subject ofthe

Meadow

of SaintIsidro.

The

senseof fun of those images, their luminosity

and

chromatic

play, the lively

manners

of

their protagonist, the very

concrete expressingofjust

where

all

was

taking place

are hereabsent...

gone and

this isaverydifferent world.

Now

shades shroud

this

procession of celebrants

who

come

on

towards the Viewer. Theirmusic, ifthere

were

any,

would

be sodden

with tragedy

and

hopeless-ness ratherthan brightwith

joy. Eventheveiled beauty

ofthe

women

behind their

'mantillas' is

drowned

in

the squalor ofthe group.

And

whatever

charm

that

thesettingmight

once

have

had

-

and

indeed the

land-scape

that

Goya

suggests

and even

some

of the

fig-ures could

be

attractive

-

is drained of all

promise by

the character of this so unpromising rout.

The

scene has

been

under-stood by

some

historians as a Saturnalia, a festival in

honour

ofSaturn

who,

like

Saint Isidro,

was

a patron

of labourers. This

could

indeed

be

what

this outing celebrates but herethere is nothing of the excess

and

merry

making

ofthe

classi-cal festival.

Goya's

paint-ing

does

not

bespeak

the past as

would

a

work

redo-lent of nostalgia for classi-cal

mythology

but rather is

cheek

tojowl with a

dead-eningly

humdrum

present.

The

characters, theirdress,

their very standing are all

A"romerfa", farfrom beinga formal pilgrimage,was morea localday

Ground

Floor

of

Goya's

own

times or

even

less determined than

that.

The

master here is in

no

way

after a historical reconstruction

- any

more

than

he

is in

any

other of the "Black Paintings"

- and

if

he

does hintat classical

iconography,

he

does

so

only to underline his pre-sentworldofthe turn of the century.

They

are a

mixed

bunch

thatare

coming

towards us.

There

are beggars,

work-ingmen,

fieldhands, the well-heeled

and

the

com-fortably off,

people from

every

call

and

calling in

Life, for all qualities

and

stationsofpeopletook part

in this celebration, as

we

do

too, for, willy-nilly,

he

also

sweeps

us

up

intothe

picture

which

not

only

spillstowards usbut, bythe

stares

and

glances of

some

ofthe foreground figures,

draws us into its action

and

scope bytheeye language dialogue that these stares

and

glances provoke.

This lastisathing

common

to the

whole

run of "Black

Paintings".

Goya

does

not offer here material to

be

looked

upon

from without

but hascunningly

made

use ofelements in his

composi-tion that strike up an

imme-diate affinity

between

the

world ofhis works

and

that

of his spectators.

A

virtual

conversation is thus

estab-lished

between

the viewer

and

the foreground beggars

in the procession. Their

movement

intotheViewers

territory,theirpresence, stares

andgesturesbegthisofhim, beseech it, mutely imposeit.

The

technical

elements

Goya

usesto achievethese

effectsare wonderfully

plas-tic.

The

group

crowds

out the foreground

and

makes

itselfthe focal line to such

a

degree

that the sheer weightof itsdensity of

feel-ing, its ill-defined

dimen-sions, that leftunseen, that

which

might be -

or

be

coming

-behind

it quite

unsettlesthe spectatorand,

this riveted, the eye clings

to

what

can be

accomo-dated

and

simply seen:the celebrants themselves.

THE

UPPER

FLOOR

ROOM

Two

Women

and

a

Man

The

Reading

(The Politicians)

The

Single Stick

Duel

Pilgrimage to Saint Isidro's Spring

The

Fates (Atropos)

The

Sabbath (Asmodea)

Drowning

Dog

Two

Women

and

a

Man

(Cat. No. 765)

A

visitor

coming

into the tion. At present it is gener-upper

room

of the

Quinta

ally held thatthe

composi-would

have

been

met

by

tion isabout masturbation:

two

paintings

one on

either the

man

is masturbatingand

side of the door:

Two

the

watching

women

are

Women

and

a

Man

and

laughing either at

him

or

The

Reading

(The Politi- with him.There is, however,

cians). Both, like their

no

hint here of

any

com-neighbouring

horizontal

ment

atall

on

this, letalone

works,

would seem

very censure,

different in their subject

They

could be in

some

kind matter to those to

be

seen of interior or, then again, in the lowerroom.

Now

the outside

and

maybe

even in

mundane

rules,

even

the the street.

Once

again,

Go-frankly vulgar, as if

we

were

ya cheats us out ofour

cer-faced again with a

new

set tainties.

The

light falls

on

of "very

common

com-

the arm, the

elbow,

the

monplace

scenes". white shirtof the

man

and

Theposesandgesturesofthe

some

onto the lap of

one

man

and both

women

have ofthe

women

slightly tothe

always given rise to

much

rear of him.

Shadow

swal-comment

andas

much

- and lows all else, deepeningthe

Upper

Floor

lighted focal point. In this

way

andalthough thescene

has

nothing

biblical nor

mythological to it, it has its

affinities with thescenes in

the

room below

and

with

the others

on

this floor.

Thissimilarity alsoextends

to the characters depicted

here.

The

man's ecstatic

ges-ture is yetanother instance

of that grotesque twisting

intothe bestial ofother

fig-ures in

Goya's work,

the giggling

woman

would

be

quite at

home

at a Sabbath

of the

lower room, even

though she

seems younger

than those witches; while

the other, to the left, has very

much

in

common

with

Judith's

handmaid.

These

affinities can lead to

two ways

of understanding

the picture, there

being

those

who,

thanksto them,

arguethat it should

be

seen

as another allegory as the subject of

onanism

lends

itself to

such

a treatment while others

- and

myself

among

them

- while in

no

way

denying this

possibil-ity,

would

tend to see it in

quite another light, rather seeing thehistorical scenes as being shotthrough with that

same

everyday

hard-ness that here is the

domi-nant note.

Two

Women

and

a

Man

offers

no

bolt hole from thehereand

now

and

this ties in very well

with

Goya's

methods

of

working

when

heputsaside

all mythological

and

bibli-cal trappings.

The

artist has nailed hiseye

upon

the expression proper

toeach

one

ofhis subjects.

The

gross delight in the

man's

face

marked

by

his

drooling

gawp

and leeryeyes arecontrasted with the

bru-tal

guffaw

of the

woman

watching

him and

the pert glanceofthe

woman

tothe

left.All three togetherset

up

an interplay of reactions

around the actthat, though

patent, is neverspeltout, all

of

which

lends the icon a

hermetic reek itself born as

much

ofthe painter's

indif-ferencetothe act assuch as

his aboundinginterest in the reactions ofhis protagonists' to it.

The Reading

(The Politicians)

(Cat. No. 766)

The

publishing of

newspa-pers,

pamphlets and

all

manner

of other

produc-tions, especially if satirical

or political, hita

peak

dur-ing the three years of lib-eral government ('El Trienio

Liberal') thanks to its

grant-ing offreedom tothe press.

People read alone or quite often in

groups

like that

Goya

gives us here

where

we

haveagathering of

men

to listen toa group reading of

one

ofthese broadsheets,

whether

this

paper

is a

political

one

ornot,

we

can-not tell

from

the picture

alone,

any

more

than

we

can

make

outexactly

where

the reading istaking place -they tended to

be

held in

cafes, the street or private

parlours. Yet again

Goya

has left us in the dark

on

thispart of his subject

mat-ters.

The

lighting of the scene,

like that of

Two

Women

and

a

Man,

seeks an expres-sive rather than a natural

effect. Playing

on group

centre, it has

no

given

source

and

scatters

shad-ows

in

every

direction. Thus,

and

so simply,

Goya

turns

what

could well have

been

another's

every-day and

picturesque scene -

and

so it

was

treated in

many

prints

and

cartoons-into a dramatic event.

The

picture's

charged

atmos-phere

is its

dominant

key

and

highlights both char-acters

and

their very

lim-ited gestures.

What

Goya

homes

us in

on

is thus their

absorbed attentiveness

and

this is almost as intense as

our

own.

The

spectator's curiosity is so very

much

a

parallel to that ofthese

lis-tener-spectators that, as spell

bound

as they are, being

drawn

into theworld

of the

work

is all but

The

Single Stick

Duel

(Cat. No. 758)

This is

one

ofthe best

and

as the viewer chooses but

most

widely

known

ofthe

whatever

the choice, the "Black Paintings". It

shows

scene is as sure to imprint

a brutal duel to the death itself

on

the

memory

in

one

in

which

the duellists,

way

or another with all its

buried

up

to the knee, are tragic drama, pleadagainst

denied

all option to flee, the inescapable fate to

Though

no

one

can have

which

the

combatants

are

any

doubt

as to

what

is

condemned

and

scorchthe

goingon,

nobody

couldsee

mind's

retina with the

the

work

as a

mere

anec-

extreme

violence

with

dote. It is as

much

an alle-

which

itsoverbearing all is gory

upon

the violence of expressed

and do

all this

Spanish life in the painter's with all the simplicity of a times, time's

overloaded

blow

to the face,

with conflict, as it is a

com-

This is

one

ofthefew works

ment upon

the congenital in the "Black Paintings"

violenceof his nation at all series thatdarkness doesnot times

and

his fellow coun- dominate.

The

landscape is

trymen's dreadful tendency bright

and

clear, the fields

towardsfraternal strife that

and

hills that spread to the so

marks

them

out. skyline offer

an

almost

The

image can beas broad- bucolic setting, highlighted

Upper

Floor

fair clouds

and

the strength

The

luminous background

ofthesunlight. This peace- landscape has

been

left in

ful beauty only intensifies from the previous,

under-the scene's dramatic impact lying painting. It

shows

us

and

makes

the

more

explicit

two

things of

which

the

the harshness ofthe world

most

obvious

must be

that of

men

as againstthatofthe the original paintings that gently browsingcattle ofthe

Goya

intendedfor hiswalls

middle

ground:

The

pres-

had

nothing tragic

about

ence

of these beasts could

them

but

were

very

much

lead usto think ofthefight-

more

the sortof

work

then

ers as

two cowherds -

they thought suitable for

deco-are viIlage dressed

-

but ratinga country housethan

were

they to

be

so, this the "Black Paintings" could

could not

dock one

littlefin- ever

have been accepted

ger'sgrip ofthe duel's uni- as being.

Second

only to

versal reach. this, it

shows

the painter's

original

work

for the wall

to

have

been by

a

hand

in

total control of the

ways

and

nneans of his art,

up

to

creating

landscapes

of breath-taking beauty well

beyond

the pastoral bucol-icsthat had

crowded

upthe walls of his age.

Goya

uses,

above

all, light

and

air as

the 'ingredients' for his

composition

thus

modu-latingthe luminosity ofthe

scene

and

making

its

atmospheric

density the unifying

chord

to its all.

Thus

the

two

men

locked

in brutal

combat

are seen

in silhouette.

By

the useof

such

simplicity of

means

when

giving

body

to his

images he

lends

them

an

added

value

and

meaning

out

and

beyond

any

mere

representing

them

be itever

so formally.

The

stand point

for

both

landscape

and

background is notthe

same

as that for the figures, the

comfortable distancing of thefirst thus further

throw-ingthe fighters almost into

theviewer's/spectator's

own

Pilgrimage to Saint Isidro's Spring

(Cat. No. 755)

Also

known

as

The

Holy

thatare in

no

wisethe supe-Office's

Walk

this picture riors of the witches in the stood across from the pre- Sabbathorthecronesofhis

vious

one

and

bears

some

drawings

and

engravings,

resemblances

to it.

As

The

same

goes

for those

before, the master has kept

coming

in

from

the right,

in a

good

part of his origi-

some

of

whom,

crippled or

nal, half painted over,first deformed, staggeralong

on

work

-

the landscape

and

crutches orwith sticks.

The

some

small figures

-but

has Pilgrims seek a cure for given the

whole

a

new

twist these misfortunes but

Go-that has littleto

do

with the ya's

foreground

figures

mood

of his earlier effort.

would seem

to offer very

Goya

gives us a procession little

hope

ofthis,

that

would

appearto be led This is

perhaps

the

only

by

a

toady

of the

Holy

one

of the "Black Paintings"

Office

who

is the rightfore-

which

is

downright

satiri-ground

figure with afool's cal. Neitherthe toady nor

face

and

gestures

and

all theold biddies around

him

decked

out in out-dated or

Holy

Herberts

in the

garb.

He

is surrounded

by

procession

would

frighten

Upper

Floor

grin. This,

and

the artist's

attitude to his subjects,

could

well

be

due

to the signal fact that precisely duringthe time of its

paint-ing, the Inquisition

had

at

last

been

abolished never

to rise again, not

even

under

a restored

abso-lutism, not

even

as a

con-sequence ofthe

many

pres-sures brought

upon

Ferdi-nand

VII to set it

up

and

on

its

way

again.

As

even

the ecclesiastic authorities confessed, the

Inquisition

had

been

as

much

a political as a

reli-gious institution

and

its

baleful influence

had done

much

to shapeSpain's

cul-tural life.

Goya

himself had

come

under its scrutiny

on

various occasions, thefirst

time

for his

"Caprichos"

(Fancies), aseries of

engrav-ings,

and

then again, after

the

War

of

Independence

against the French,

when

he

was

identified as

he

who

had

painted the

"Ma-jas"

belonging

to

Manuel

Godoy

which

were

held to

be obscene

works.

The

demise

of this institution

was

surely

met

with relief

by

then aging painter

and

this

work

captures his

wry

glee at the

welcome

The

Fates (Atropos)

(Cat. No. 757)

The

four upper

room

paint-ings so far described

have

in

common

a

more

or less

everyday subject matter and

could

be understood

as

scenes

from

Spanish life.

The

same

could never

be

said ofthe remainingthree

whose meaning

has given

rise to a host of different

and wildly conflicting read-ings. All three

works

are

imbued

with that silence

that also

permeates

some

ofthe "Disparates"

(Absur-dities) engraved bythe artist

during the

same

period.

The

Fates isthe most

acces-sible of the three if such a

word

could

properly

be

applied to

any

of

them.

Goya

draws

upon

three

mythological figures: Clotho,

LachesisandAtropos,

Daugh-ters of Night,

who

grant

Man

both

Good

and

Evil

and

harry his sins

and

even those of the gods.

Hesiod

in his

Theogony

teWs usthat

these merciless deities never slacken in the

chase

until

they visit their harsh pun-ishment

upon

all those that

have

committed

crimes.

There

are four figures in

Goya's

composition here, the three goddesses

them-selves

and

a

bound

(?)

man

that they are carrying off.

The

artist has

made

short

shrift of the traditional

iconographic

elements

proper to the Fates. Clotho holds a

human

figure

-

a doll,

an

ex-voto

of the body?

-

ratherthan her con-ventional distafforspinning

wheel; Lachesis

does

not tease out her thread of Life

but rather peers at

what

mightbe a mirror or

maybe

it isthrough a quizzingglass

whileAtropos

who

put the

final shearsto thethread of

Life is but

equipped

here with scissors.

The

man

upper

Floor

stares out at us

devoid

of the ideal nobility of

neo-all initiative. classicism as it

does

with

If its

theme

is important to the sentimentalized terror

any understanding

of the ofmost romanticcreations, piece, as important are the If anything leaps out from

elements

that

Goya

has his figures, it is the sordid

added

to the tale. First brutality that

he

has seen

among

thesemuststand his in

them. Other european

having dismissed all trace artists of the period

made

ofthe heroically

sublime

a try at representing the

or mythological.

The

Fates gods ofnightbut only

Goya

are great

gods

and

are

dared

to see

them

in this

shown

as such intraditional

way,

tossing aside

every-written or plastic iconog- thingpositive, other-worldly raphy. But not here,

where

or ideal that the notion

their faces are

deformed

"divine" usually urges

on

and

brutal, especially the artist.

Clotho's, so

much

so that

And

this is not the

only

their sex

must be

a given, thingthat seizes the

atten-Goya's

vision of these tion of the spectator, for

"divine" daughters of

Old

another

must be

the

noc-Night has as littleto

do

with turnal landscape in

which

the action is set. Its

moon-lit

beauty

with its silvers

and

golds, the

luminous

sky, its trees

and

bushes in

deep shadow,

the angular

handling

with

which

its

working

space is

manipu-lated are all hallmarks of

Goya's

mastercraftsman-ship.

The

overall effect is

thatof a dream, and, being

dream-like, all hereanswers

to the

demands

of that

state.

The

contrast

between

this silent

landscape

and

the presences

and

charac-ter of the Fates, the doll-like profile of

he

who

is

being borne offthrough the

air are the

elements

that

work

the expressive effect

here.

Goya

had

worked

at

noc-turnal

landscapes

before

and

these recall this one,

for instance in his "Capri-chos" (Fancies),

where

night flying witches are

shown,

the

same

holdsforthe

"Dis-parates" (Absurdities),

where

the dream-like

element

is

as overpoweringas in

Atro-pos

itself. Notwithstanding,

a painting in oils

on

this

scale offers

much

more

scope

than any

drawing

or engraving ever could,

espe-cially

when

it

comes

to the

treatment given to

moon-light, here

endowed

with a so

much

greater intensity,

a

monumental

tone

so

much

the

more

impressive

The

Sabbath (Asmodea)

(Cat. No. 756)

This is the

most

hermetic (The crippleddevil) by Luis

of all the "Black Paintings"

Velez de Guevara,

a

nar-Its title

comes

down

to us rative

known

to

and

pro-viathe inventory

made

by

moted

by

A.R.Lesage

and

Goya's friendAntonio Bru- D. deTorres.This

Asmodeus

gada

who

must have had

is a flying devil of popular

his reasons for so calling it. superstition, an ability that

Whatever

thesewere, they allows

him

toeavesdrop

on

escape

us

and

the

work

households. This source has itselfgives

no

hint ofthem,

been

often forwarded.

Asmodeus,

in the

mascu-

In these

and

other possible

line form, isthe devil from sources, there is but

one

the

Book

ofTobitthatslew aspect that could tie

them

the

husbands

of Sarah

one

in with the picture

and

that

after the other before they is flying as

such

whereas

could

consummate

their there are

many

and

more

marriages.

The

lastof

them

which

disqualify

them

all all, Tobias,

on

the advice and,

above

all, the factthat

of

Archangel

Raphael,

the title is

"Asmodea"

not drove off this fiend with a "Asmodeus".

To

add

to the

stench of fish

and

chased

conundrum,

Goya

has put

him

off to

Upper

Egypt, soldiers firing

away

intothe

where

the Archangel

bound

foreground right

and

what

him

to earth.

would seem

to be an

army

Another

literary sourcefor baggagetrain intothe back-the painting's theme, could

ground -

though it is hard have been Eldiablocojuelo to tell if the first are firing

Upper

Floor

on

the

second

- both of

which

putsout ofjoint

any

reading of thework's images

anchored

upon

classical

sources.

The

modern

world is very

much

there with its

muskets, fusiliers, uniforms

and

carriage horses

and

all.

Be

this as it

may,

it

would

also only

be

right to

draw

attention to the fact that

those in the air

might be

classically dressed (might

be

became Goya

was

also

given to turning out

mod-ern figures in such guise).

Itjust

would

not

do

to glide

over these

problems

and

suggest a

meaning

that ignored them.

Which

does not

mean

that

we

should

give

up on

the image

which

is

among

the

most

fasci-nating ofthe series with its

shining sky in sharp

con-trast with the nocturnal

luminosity of

Atropos

which, as will

be

remem-bered, stood across

from

this

work,

with its

move-ment

of flying people, the

enigmatic import of those

firingsoldiers seenfrom the back, the picturesque

bag-gage

train in the

back-ground,

the vasty rock

crowned

with buildingsthat

one

ofthefliers is pointing

out... I

would

not riska

pic-torial nor historiographic

commentary

on

this

paint-ing

and

yet, arguing

from

an association of ideas

and

speaking only for myself,

find in it

some

manner

of

forebodingofthe

mood

that

enshroudsh

some

of Kafka's

tales.

Things fantastic or

dream-wrought

rather than

terri-ble, density

and

not

mere

portrayal, crystalline images;

these are all plastic

quali-ties in painting

without

which

modern

art

would

lack consistency.

These

characteristics hark backto

Goya'sfirstetching

them

in

and

which, even

when

we

cannotbreak throughto the sense behind them,

would

still

compel

us to admit to

thedepth ofthefeelingsthey

Drowning

Dog

(Cat. No. 767)

Before hazarding an inter-

puzzling

about

a dog's

pretation, let thevisitorfirst head, aditch norspace and

give the dog's

head

a

good

yet

combined,

the result is

look, its gaze,

where

its hermetic for neither dog,

muzzle

is pointing... Apart ditch norspaceexhibit

fea-from theditch, these are the tures that allowfor placing

only anecdoteswith

which

them.

Rather quite the to entertain the eye.

The

opposite, for the

dog

is

no

scenecould notbesimpler;

more

than that

- any

old

a dog's

head

is thrust forth

dog

-

and

shorn

of

any

from a ditch, it is staring at attributes thatcould give it

something

tothe right

and

any mythological standing, slightly higher

up

but its

we

have

no

idea of the gaze is at nothing- though ditch in itself, whether it be

some

historians hold that cut into sand, clay, stone, there

once

were

fluttering and thebackground's space birds there

-

and

behind

could just

be

the painting

this possible nothing, there itself. In short, its hard to

is infinite spaceor nothing say

what

the painting is

again.

about

because

more

than

To

say that this is a pro-

anything

else, it is just a

foundly visual

work

is not, painting,

however, to statethe obvi-

An

x-raystudy ofthe

work

ous.

The

few anecdoticele- has

shown

that it suffered

ments

that

Goya

offers are

more

than

any

of the

oth-by

no

means

incompre-

ers

when

being lifted

on

to

Upper

Floor

Goya

never

finished it

-

quicksand, the

dog

is

escap-though

there is

no

way

of ing, it is

coming

to us, is

knowing

this for sure,

showing

its head...

No

one

Whatever

the case, the could gainsay

any

ofthese

work

is not a jot the less explanations butthen again,

effective

and

this to such a

none

of

them

isas charged degree that it has

become

with expression as the

an

emblematic image

for painting is, not

one

of

them

modern

art itself in its

most

clears

up

the

cosmic

obscure

and

anguish ridden

dimension

of the

back-aspects. This is not theonly

ground

space, nor

makes

occasion

on

which

Goya

clear

what

manner

of ditch

anticipatestheinferenceskills - if a ditch - the ditch is,

propertoour

own

times, for nor

even

what

sort of

dog

they arealsodisplayed in his this

dog

could be. I

would

"Disparates" (Absurdities). Be therefore bet that the

visi-thatso, atnoothertimedoes tor will find it hard toshake

he

show

to such effect

and

off the

uneasiness

and

with so

much

mastery as he doubtsthatthe picture gives

does here the intractability rise to,

and

it is

maybe

this

between

a figure

and

sheer

power

to

dog

thespectator

room

nor underline within that is its real meaning. In

a

work

the pure challenge it the "Black Paintings" as

and anguish inherant in exist- a

whole

reach their peak of

ing. intensity:

one

step further

The layman

as

much

asthe

on

thantheiranecdotal sub-historian

can

only feel an ject matter, they suggest urge to conceptualize the there is a

world

to

be

image, to explain it

away,

looked at yet.

Would

it

be

wrap

it

round

with a tale: togotoofarto find our

own

the

dog

is

drowning

in in the dog's outlook?

1819.

February 27:

Goya

Alliance) sent to restore

buys the "Quinta", a coun- absolutism.

Madrid

falls

on

try

house on

the

banks

of

May

23,

Cadiz

surrenders the RiverManzanares. Dur-

on September

30.

ing the last

months

of the 1824.

Goya

hides

away

in

year he

becomes

gravely ill. the

house

of

Canon

Jose

1820.

On

March

9: Ferdi-

Duaso

y Latre.

On

May

30,

nand

VII svy/ears the

1812

isgranted leave to take the

Constitution. This ushers in v\/aters at

Plombieres

the so-called "Trienio Lib- (France). After a brief stay

eral" (Three Yearsof Liber- in Paris (from

June

30

to

alism).

The

Inquisition is

September

1)

he

arrives in

abolished

on

March

20. Bordeaux.

Goya

swears the Constitu- 1825. Leave tocontinue his

tion

on

April 4, before the waters

cure

is

extended

Royal

Academy.

(January 13)

and

then

fur-1823.

On

September

1 7, ther sofortaking the baths

hewills the "Quinta" to his at Bagneres (July 4).

17

year old

grandson,

1826.Journeyto

Madrid

in

Mariano.

As

he is a minor.

May.

Is allowedto retire

on

the deeds are

handed

over full salary

(50000

reales) to Francisco Javier

Goya,

on

June 17.

his father.

1827.

Travels to

Madrid

Invasion

by

the

Hundred

during the

summer.

Thousand

SonsofSaint Luis 1828.

Goya

dies

on

April (French invasion under the 16, attended

by

Leocadia auspices of the

Holy

ZorriIla and in thepresence

of

Antonio

Brugada

and

Jose Pfo

de

la Molina. Antonio Brugada

makes

his

inventory ofGoya's Quinta

effects.

1830.

May

3,

Mariano

makes

the "Quinta" overto

his father, FranciscoJavier

Goya.

1832.

The

"Quinta" is

mort-gaged

to Joaqufn

Azpiazu

and

let to

Severiano

Fi-gueras

at

8000

reales a year.

The

dateofthis

trans-action is uncertain.

1854. Death

of Francisco

Javier

Goya,

March

12.

December

14,

The

"Quinta"

surveyed

by

the architect

Manuel

Garcfa for Narciso

Bruguera.

1856.

Death

of

Leocadia

Zorrilla,

August

6.

1857.

January

2, the

"Quinta" let to Santiago Ortiz

who

sub-lets it to

Francisca Vildosola,

who

will

be

the

second

wife to

Mariano

Goya,

widowed

on

March

14,1859.

By

her

hewill have

two

daughters, Luisa

and

Francisca.

1859.

The

"Quinta" soldto

Segundo

Colmenares

in

early June.

1863.

May

23, bankruptcy

of

Segundo

Colmenares

results in requisition of his

goods and

properties.

On

November,

Luis Rodol-fo

Coumont

buys

the

"Quinta" for

5.209.728

reales,

perhaps

commis-sions Laurent tophotograph its paintings.

1873.

The

property,

now

owned

by

Ch. Saulnier, is

bought by Baron

Frederic

Emile d'Erlanger.

1874.

F.E. d'Erlanger has

Salvador Marti'nez Cubells, restorer to the

Prado

Mu-seum,

lift the paintings

on

to canvas. In this task the

latter is assisted

by

his

brothers Enrique

and

Fran-cisco.

1878.

The

paintings are

shown

in the

Trocadero

duringthe Paris

World

Fair.

1881:

The

pictures, having

been bequeathed

to the

Spanish State, are assigned to the Prado

Museum.