Transcript

LINDA WALSH
In 1814, when Napoleon was struggling to hold on to power, Goya painted this image of Napoleonic repression - the events in Madrid, of the 3rd of May 1808. Napoleon's troops executed Spaniards who had resisted French occupation of their city. The French firing squad, were responding to an uprising of the previous day the 2nd of May…
…when Napoleon's imperial guard, had been attacked by the people of Madrid. Goya said that he wanted to record in these scenes ‘ “Spain’s glorious insurrection against the tyrant of Europe”. Napoleon had actually projected himself as the bearer of Enlightenment reason, law and morals, and yet he had invaded Spain by devious means.
The Spanish people never accepted French occupation of their country, and made Napoleon pay dearly through uprisings that had led to heavily military losses.
Goya's overt anti-Napoleonic propaganda raises important issues about his art, that we'll be exploring in this video. How did he respond as an artist, to the power struggles within his country, and what does his work express, about the fate of enlightenment ideals in Spain?
On the face of it Goya would seem to represent Spain's heartland. He was born in its central province Aragon, a place of almost lunar emptiness. This is his birth village, Fuendetodos.
This is the house in which the artist was born, its now the centre of a small birthplace industry.
But perhaps his real spiritual home, was the ancient city, and capital of Aragon, Zaragossa, fifty five kilometres away. Here his father worked as a gilder. Zaragossa is not a cosmopolitan city, though strong traces remain, of the centuries of occupation by the Moors. Zaragossa's principal cathedral, El Pilar, was built by Spain's leading Baroque architect Herrera and would have been nearly built in Gaya’s day..
Commissions for artists in eighteenth century Zaragossa came overwhelming from the church.
Having set up his first studio nearby in 1771, this is Goya’s earliest major commission. The barrel vault that the small choir, at the east end of the cathedral of El Pilar. The theme, The Adoration of the Name of God, and the medium, the traditionally heroic technique of fresco, in which the paint is applied to wet plaster.
JANIS TOMLINSON
What do we know about his life ? We really don't know very much. For his early life we have his correspondence to his home town friend Martin Sabater but it's very cut and dried correspondence. It's often about, you know, going hunting, about the good times they used to have. Sometimes he'll refer to how much he was paid for a painting, sometimes he'll refer to investments. Once in a while he refers to a specific commission, such as The Meadow of Saint Isidir, a small tapestry sketch in Prado, and he says in the letter of 1788, that he is busy working on this theme. Other than that, there's not a lot we have to go on.
We do know that Goya went to Italy, staying in Pama and Rome, and in doing so availed himself of the ideal grounding for an eighteenth century artist.
This kind of training would serve as a n ideal preparation for work in the Royal Palaces, whose staff he was trying to join through a network of family connections.
LINDA WALSH
The Spanish royal family was based here in Madrid at the Royal Palace. The palace had been built by Philip V and was intended to rival the great French palace of Versailles, and be counted amongst the most prestigious courts in Europe.
Goya had established a good reputation as a portrait painter and these skills were appreciated at the Courts of Carlos III and Carlos IV who employed him as an official court artist..
There's an eighteenth century informality in some of Goya's portraits, which fits in with the Spanish monarchy's wish to come closer to European style.
The presence of an opera house, as part of the palace complex, is symptomatic of an eighteenth century interest in the arts, culture, and science
The Spanish court took a number of initiatives in the scientific spirit of the Enlightenment. Here for example we're in the Royal Botanical Gardens, where plants from the Philippines and South America were introduced.
Carlos III established these gardens, so that plant species could be protected, classified and studied. The gardens were laid out, so that they provided an orderly rational display, of a wide range of plants trees and shrubs. In the late eighteenth century, the Spanish court was keen to display its enlightenment credentials and its national accomplishments in both arts and sciences.
The Prado opened as a museum in 1819, to display the court's art collection
The astronomical observatory opened in 1790, one of only four of its kind in Europe.
Goya was not an intellectual, but his portraiture of the 1790's, often shows the props and facial expressions, of what has been termed ‘The Light of Reason’. Was he sympathetic to these people ? His portrait of Antonio Melendez Valdez, the francophile poet and professor is marked prominently as “by his friend Goya”.
JANIS TOMLINSON
I think part of the biography that has been invented for Goya, is ‘Goya the Enlightened Man’ . Enlightened in the sense of attending Tertullas ( the Spanish equivalent of the French Salons ) where people would talk about political ideas. Invented in the fact of saying, you know, claiming as his close friends, proponents of the Enlightenment whom he painted. Such as Gaspar de Jovellanos or Juan Melendez.
I don't think we should do that. Goya clearly painted these people, he knew these people. To suggest that he had regular discussions with them, I think is highly unlikely. I think there was a social divide between the painter and his close patrons. I think however Goya was a sponge for new ideas.
PROF FRANCISCO CALVO SERALLER
I think that Goya as with all great geniuses, had no problem following orders. I think that great geniuses grow in response to their commissions, they don't see them as a humiliation. Goya was able to do both types of work, and keep a dialogue going on between them. This was an exceptional period, but we have to remember that he was surrounded by extraordinary people, and not just intellectuals.
At the court, the Infante Don Luis, the brother of Carlos III, with an undeniably important character. A refined person, and a great musicologist, a man who understood about art.
And there was the duchess of Osuna - she was an extraordinary woman, whom he painted several times - and she was also the first person who promoted his career. He met extraordinary men and women, and knew how to learn from those people.
LINDA WALSH
Goya’s first duties in the Royal Household were relatively workaday. He had already built a reputation for his tapestry cartoons, the paintings used as the basis for weavers’ designs. He produced oversixty cartoons for royal residencies, including El Pardo, where the royal family spent their winters, and El Escorial, where they spent their summers.
Tapestry was the highest status wall covering in Spain at this period, so royal palaces needed a lot of them. Such extraordinary profusion, necessitated imagery that was easy on the eye.
These bright sunny images, were meant to be decorative. Because these designs were for private rooms, Goya could move away from the grand mythological subjects demanded for state rooms. These are light hearted scenes of Madrid's citizens at play: dancing, picnicking, brawling, blowing balloons, and flying kites.
By the 1790's, Goya had become the first choice artist for the ruling elite.
Ambitious politicians would seek him out to validate their status.