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Goya
Goya

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4 Illustrations shown on the video in order of their appearance

4.1 Works by Goya

Third of May, 1808, 1814, oil on canvas, 268 x 347 cm, Prado, Madrid (Plate V2.5).

Second of May, 1808, 1814, oil on canvas, 268 x 347 cm, Prado, Madrid (Plate V2.6).

The Adoration of the Name of God, 1772, fresco, 700 x 1500 cm (approx.), Basilica de Santa María del Pilar, Saragossa.

The Meadow of San Isidro, 1788, 419 x 908 cm, Prado, Madrid.

Self-Portrait, c. 1781–2 (or c.1785: date contested), oil on canvas, 42 x 28 cm, San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Madrid.

Carlos IV in Hunting Costume, 1799, 209 x 129cm, Royal Palace, Madrid.

Queen Maria Luisa in a Mantilla, 1799, 208 x 130cm, Royal Palace, Madrid.

Juan de Villanueva, c. 1800–5, 90 x 67 cm, Royal Academy of San Fernando, Madrid. (Villanueva was architect of the Prado and of the Royal Observatory, Madrid. He was made director of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts and wears the uniform of this office in the portrait.)

J.A. [Juan Antonio] Meléndez Valdés, 1797, oil on canvas, 733 x 571 cm, Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle. (Valdés was a poet and Francophile. He had to go into exile in France after Ferdinand VII's return to the throne.)

Sebastián Martínez, 1792, oil on canvas, 92.9 x 67.6 cm, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. (Martínez was a businessman and art collector. He was also general treasurer of the Finance Board of Cádiz and became a member of the San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts in 1796. Goya stayed with Martínez in 1792 prior to his illness.)

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, 1798, oil on canvas, 205 x 133 cm, Prado, Madrid. (Jovellanos was a politician and writer who was made minister of the interior in 1797, when Godoy made attempts to liberalise the Spanish government.)

‘The Tyrant’: Portrait of Actress María del Rosario Fernández, c.1792, 206 x 130 cm, oil on canvas, San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Madrid.

Family of the Infante Don Luis, 1784, 248 x 340 cm, oil on canvas, Magnani Foundation, Parma.

Family of the Duke and Duchess of Osuna, 1788, 255 x 174 cm, oil on canvas, Prado, Madrid.

The Kite, 1778, 269 x 285 cm, oil on canvas (tapestry cartoon), Prado, Madrid; corresponding tapestry at Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

The Count of Altamira, 1786–7, oil on canvas, 177 x 108 cm, Banco de Espana, Madrid. (The count was a member of the Board of the Banco de San Carlos and in 1796 a member of the Academy of San Fernando.)

The Count of Floridablanca, 1783, oil on canvas, 260 x 166 cm, Banco de Espana, Madrid. (The Count of Floridablanca was one of the driving forces behind enlightened absolutism in Spain. He instigated many enlightened projects, including botanical gardens, the Royal Observatory, the Banco de San Carlos, bridges, highways and canals.)

Godoy as Commander in the War of the Oranges, c.1801, 180 x 267 cm, oil on canvas, San Fernando Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Madrid (Plate V2.3).

Strolling Players, 1793, 42.5 x 31.7 cm, oil on tinplate, Prado, Madrid.

Yard with Lunatics, 1793–4, 43.8 x 32.7 cm, oil on tinplate, Meadows Museum, Dallas, Texas.

From Los Caprichos:

Note: the etchings in the film from Los Caprichos and from Disasters of War are from the Ceán Bermúdez albums at the British Museum. These albums contain Goya's working proofs with manuscript titles in his own hand. Titles and captions were often changed in later versions of the prints. This, together with the variants produced by different translators, means that there are today a number of recorded titles for each print.

In Los Caprichos Goya experimented with the relatively recent technique of aquatint. This involved covering some parts of the metal plate used to produce the print with a porous resin, while ‘stopping out’ other parts (that is, preventing them from absorbing ink) by covering them with varnish. The stopped-out sections would finally appear white while the resin-covered section would absorb ink through tiny ‘holes’ between the grains of resin. In this way and through subsequent ‘bitings’ of the plate in an acid bath, soft, velvety and granular shaded areas would be produced. Thus, Goya was able to enhance the effects of etched lines (or drawing) through the addition of varied and expressive tonal effects. Half-tones could be created through the process of burnishing, in which a special tool is used to make flatter or smoothed-down areas of the plate which carry less ink than they would have done and hence produce lighter areas on the finished print.

  • They Say Yes and Give Their Hand to the First Comer, Plate 2 of Los Caprichos print series, 1797–8, etching with aquatint.

  • Nanny's Boy, Plate 4 of Los Caprichos print series, 1797–8, etching with aquatint.

  • And So Was his Grandfather, Plate 39 of Los Caprichos print series, 1797–8, etching with aquatint (also called As Far Back as his Grandfather) (Figure 7).

  • The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters, Plate 43 of Los Caprichos print series, 1797–8, etching with aquatint (Plate V2.1).

Self-Portrait, 1782, oil on canvas, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Agen, France.

Family of Carlos IV, 1800–1, 280 x 336 cm, Prado, Madrid (Plate V2.2).

From Disasters of War, 1810–1814:

  • Gloomy Presentiments of Things to Come.

  • Whether Right or Wrong.

  • Women Give Courage.

  • And They Are Like Wild Beasts.

  • What Courage! (Figure 5).

  • This is Worse.

  • Charity (Figure 4).

  • What a Feat! With Dead Men! (also called A Heroic Feat! With Dead Men!) (Figure 6).

Self-Portrait with Doctor Arrieta, 1820, 117 x 79 cm, oil on canvas, Institute of Arts, Minneapolis.

Nobody Knows Himself, Plate 6 of the Los Caprichos print series, 1797–8.

That Certainly is Being Able to Read (or He Certainly Can Read), Plate 29 of the Los Caprichos print series, 1797–8.

There is Plenty to Suck, Plate 45 of the Los Caprichos print series, 1797–8.

The garden front of the Quinta del Sordo; woodcut from Charles Yriate's Goya book of 1867 (engraving).

The garden front of Goya's house; photograph by Asenjo. Published in La Illustración Española Americana, 1909. At the time of writing (May 2003) it has been suggested by one of Goya's biographers that the so-called Black Paintings were works not of Goya but of his son. This remains an open question for subsequent investigation.

‘Black Paintings’

  • Duel with Clubs, 1820–3, plate negative of Black Painting in original location made by J. Laurent, c. 1863–6. The original plate is now in the Archivo Ruiz Vernacci, Madrid, at the Centro de Informatión y Documentatión del Patrimonio Artístico, Madrid.

  • The Three Fates, as above.

  • A Procession of the Holy Office (also called Pilgrimage to San Isidro Fountain), as above.

  • Asmodeus (also called Witches Sabbath), as above.

  • The Dog, as above.

Ferdinand VII, c.1783, Prado, Madrid.

4.2 Works by other artists

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres, Bonaparte as First Consul, 1804, 227 x 147 cm, Musée d'Art Moderne et d'Art Contemporain de la Ville de Liège (Plate 9.12).

Michel-Ange Houasse, The Drawing Academy, c.1725, 61 x 72.5 cm, oil on canvas, Royal Palace, Madrid (Unit 1, Figure 1.8).

Diego de Velásquez, Las Meninas, 1656, 318 x 276 cm, oil on canvas, Prado, Madrid.

After José Aparicio, Glories of Spain, engraving, after a painting of 1815–18, now lost, Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (Figure 2).