Francisco Goya, The Great Hispanic Heritage
Page 4
Spaniards had always had an affection for the communal
enjoyment of streets and squares, perhaps because of the
bustling contrast of the austerity of their homes. Street fairs,
religiousprocessions,performancesbystrollingjugglers,even
thebullfights,whichoftentookplaceinopenplazasinthose
days, formed one of the distinguishing characteristics of
Spanishlife.Now,withthecity’sstreetscleanerandsafer,this
lifebecamemorevitalthaneverinMadrid.Thetwilightstroll
alongoneofthegreatavenues—atimeforflirtation,argument
...relaxationandrefreshment—becameacustomthatpersists
today.ThereisnoquestionthatGoyahimselftookaparticular
delightinthepastime.27
a NeW OppOrtUNitY
By 1766, Goya had his second opportunity to compete for
a scholarship for the Royal Academy of San Fernando. That
year’scompetitionwastopaintascenefromSpanishhistory
depictinganearlierkingofSpain,AlfonsotheWise.Therules
werespecific:thecanvashadtomeasuresixfeet(1.8m)wide
andfour-and-a-halffeet(1.4m)inheight.Thoseparticipating
had approximately six months to complete their composi-
tions, which were due that July. Then the participants were
expected to complete a second work on July 22 at the Royal
Academywithinafewhours.Thesubjectwastobekeptsecret
until that day. Goya participated, but once again he did not
receiveasinglevotefromtheAcademy’snine-memberpanel.
The winner was a young artist named Ramon Bayeu, whose
brother,Francisco,wasamemberofthejury.Franciscohad
beenastudentofLuzán’sadozenyearsbeforeGoya.
Although Goya had failed again, the experience and its
results taught him a valuable lesson. Spanish art, at least in
Schooling for Life
33
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1696–1770) was among the great masters of
the rococo art movement of the eighteenth century. He was in high demand
throughout Europe, completing major works for both royalty and the church.
This fresco, or a painting done on wet plaster, adorns a palace in Venice,
Italy, Tiepolo’s birthplace.
Madrid,wasmovingquicklyintothecampofneoclassicism.
Goya knew he would have to learn to paint in that style or
fail as an artist. Logically, who better to learn from than the
34
FRANCISCO GOyA
artist who had just won the 1766 Academy competition,
RamonBayeu?Goya’soldteacher,Luzán,mayhavemadethe
arrangements, and soon Goya was accepted as a student of
Bayeu’s.Forthefollowingthreeyears,Goya,nowinhisearly
twenties,studiedatthefeetofBayeu.Arthistorianstodaycon-
siderBayeutobeasecond-rateartist,andmanyconsiderhis
brother, Francisco, to be the better painter. The apprentice-
ship,however,hadsecondaryresultsforGoyaaswell.While
studying under Bayeu, he met and fell in love with Bayeu’s
youngersister,Josefa.Theywouldonedaymarry.
iNspiratiON iN itaLY
Despite the value of his apprenticeship, Goya emerged from
the experience a restless man. He felt he had not yet found
his true inspiration, and he struggled for new direction. His
restlessness shows itself in, again, a long list of stories about
Goya’s private life. Tales relate how Goya constantly walked
the streets of the capital “wrapped to the eyeballs in a black
cloak,facehiddenbeneathaslouchhat.”28 Storiestellofhim
standingbeneaththebalconiesofyoungwomen,playingthe
guitar, a musically inclined Romeo. He also carried a sword
likealatter-dayMontague.Hewasstillpronetoviolence,once
attackingamanformockingahunchback,andonoccasion,
pullinghisswordtoengageanenemyfollowinganinsult.He
hung out with jugglers, street people, and gypsies. He was a
manoftheworld,findinglifeinthestreetsofMadrid.Soon,
however,hewasofftoItalytofindnewinspiration.
LittleisknownabouthisdaysintheItaliancity-statesof
thelateeighteenthcentury.Historiansarenotevencertainhow
GoyamanagedtopayforhistriptoItaly.LegendtellsofGoya
workingasabullfighter.Itwassomethingheevenclaimedas
anoldman,writinginlettersofhisdaysinthebullringwhere
“hefoughtbullsinhistime,andthatwithhisswordinhand
hefearednoone.”29 Hesignedsuchletters “Franciscodelos
Toros(FranciscooftheBulls).”Regardlessofthetruthofthese
reports,hereachedItalybytravelingthroughsouthernFrance,
Schooling for Life
35
wherehetookthetimetocopyapaintingbySimonVouetand
sketchworksoftheRenaissancepainterNicolasPoussin.
The stories of his exploits once he arrived in Italy were
bound to be told. One tells of him performing as a street
acrobat to support himself. In another, he received an offer
from a Russian ambassador to go to the Russian capital at
St.Petersburgandbecomethecourtpainterfortheempress,
CatherinetheGreat.Oneoftheoddestlegends,butonethat
resounded with Goyaesque excess, was about a nun with
whomtheyoungartistfellmadlyinlove.Hethenraidedthe
conventwheresheresided,readytowhiskherofftoalover’s
hideaway. The scandalous kidnap led to Goya’s arrest and
condemnationtohang.OnlytheinterventionsoftheSpanish
ambassador saved Goya’s neck. Again, this story is unlikely.
DidhereallyscrambletothetopofthehighestofSt.Peter’s
domestoscrawlhisinitialsingraffiti?Didhereallymeetthe
greatFrenchpainterJacquesLouisDavidwhowouldbecome
famousasNapoleon’scourtpainter?Therewasneverashort-
ageofsuchstories,untrueastheyallprobablywere.
Some stories are highly likely, however. While in Rome,
GoyaprobablymetwithMengs,whowasinItalyatthetime
duetohisbadhealth.GoyaalsospentsometimewithTiepolo’s
son,Domenico,whoprobablygaveGoyalettersofintroduc-
tiontoacquaintancesandfriends.Thesepeopleopenedtheir
piazzastoshowtheyoungSpanishartisttheirpaintings,etch-
ings,andbusts.HemayalsohavepaidacallondiplomatDon
José Nicolás de Azara, who was also from Aragon and who
worked in the Vatican. Through de Azara, Goya may have
beenallowedtoviewadditionalprivateartworks.
Goya’smonthsinItalyrepresentedmoreopportunityand
exposureforhimthantheaverageSpanishyouthofhislower-
rankbackgroundcouldeverhaveinalifetime.Theworksof
the masters were everywhere, and he seized the advantage
to learn from them. In Rome, he could not have missed the
worksof
thegreatRenaissancepainterssuchasMichelangelo
andRaphael.HisspeciallyarrangedvisittotheVaticanwould
36
FRANCISCO GOyA
Anton Raphael Mengs (1728–1779) was a notable German painter
who was a favorite of Spain’s King Carlos I I. His work helped establish
the neoclassicism movement of art, a distinct departure from Tiepolo’s
rococo style. This painting of King Carlos I I is one of Mengs’s most
noteworthy works.
Schooling for Life
37
haveassuredhimofthat.InthecityofParma,heviewedthe
brightlypaintedfrescoesofsixteenth-centurypaintingmaster
Correggioandseemstohavefoundsignificantinspirationfor
his own later works, which often mirror the early master’s
style.Hesawdarkerworks,suchastheprisonpaintingsofa
contemporaryartist,Piranesi,againfindingatouchstonefor
laterGoyacompositions.Heviewedpaintingsbylesser-known
artists, including Alessandro Magnasco and Pietro Longhi.
HealsofoundinterestinsomenewworksbyGiuseppeMaria
Crespi and Giacomo Ceruti that featured subjects including
“common people and their life in the streets.”30 Such less
formal,commonplacesubjectsareamongthoseGoyawould
returntorepeatedlyduringhislongartisticcareer.
iN searCH OF tHe artist
Perhaps more important than anything else, Goya’s artistic
pilgrimage through Italy convinced him of his own artistic
commitments. He would never be able to whole-heartedly
attachhimselftoneoclassicism.Itwastoorigidandtoodis-
ciplined.Itssubjectmatterwasalsotoolimitedinscope.He
did not turn instead unquestioningly to either rococo or its
parent, baroque, but in these forms he found something he
could not in neoclassicism. They gave him a sense of being
thatneoclassicismcouldnot.Throughthesevibrant,organic
styles,Goyarespondedemotionally.Throughthemhecould
feelsomething.
It was during his time in Italy that Goya heard of yet
anotherartisticcompetition.ItwassponsoredbytheAcademy
of Fine Arts in the northern Italian city-state of Parma. The
entrantshadtoillustrateasceneofHannibalsightingItalyas
hecrossedtheAlps.ThepiecewastoshowtheCarthaginian
ruler’s march from Spain through modern-day southern
France to Italy in the third century b.c. The subject for the
competition was perfect for Goya. Had he not traveled over
that same region on his way to Italy? One problem facing
Goya, however, was that foreign competitors had to submit
38
FRANCISCO GOyA
their works through academy representatives in the town
where they were living. Goya was uncertain his painting
wouldbegiventhesameconsiderationasanentrybyalocal
contributor,causinghimtomisleadthejudges.Hesignedhis
workwith“Goja,”theItalianversionofhisname,andstated
hewasfromRomeandapupilofFranciscoBayeu,thecourt
paintertotheSpanishmonarch.
Goya was heartened when he received news that his
paintingreceivedsixvotesbythepanelofjudges.Thewin-
ner, however, garnered seven votes, earning the prize of a
five-ounce gold medal. The disappointed Goya could com-
fort himself with the words of the judges, who praised his
work,stating“thatifhehadbeenmoretruthfultonaturein
his coloring and less eccentric in composing the subject he
wouldhavewon.”31
Whether his failure to win the competition was the rea-
son or not, Goya soon chose to leave Italy and return home
to Spain. By now, he was 25 years old, and his artistic skills
weregreatlyimproved,althoughhewasstillnotsatisfied.He
had rejected the confining perimeters of neoclassicism, yet
hehadnotyetfullyembracedtheothertwoobviousstylistic
choices,baroqueandrococo.Norhadheyetlandedonastyle
ofhisowneither.Hefeltreadytotakearttoanotherlevel,but
where,andhow?Perhapshelackedtheconfidencetostrike
outartisticallyinhisowndirection,withhisownstyle.Despite
the bravado found in stories about Goya as a young man,
includingswordplayandlovesicknunabductions,Goyamay
not have been as confident of himself as some art historians
claim. The biographer José Gudiol claims that the artist was
“atimidman,governedbyemotionandsomewhatlackingin
self-confidence.”32 Perhaps, or perhaps not, but it is certain
thatwhenGoyamadehiswaybacktoSpain,hedidnotreturn
confidently to Madrid to make his artistic mark. Instead, he
returnedtothesimplerenvironsofSaragossa Itwastobehere
thatGoyawouldsetouttocreatehisartisticlegacy.
3
Marriage
and Career
In 1771, Goya took up residence on the Street of Noah’s
ArkinSaragossa.Italywasbehindhim,butthelessonshehad
learnedwerenot.Goyahadalsoleftneoclassicismasanartistic
style.Whatlayahead?Wherewouldhisstill-evolvingarttake
him?YoungGoyadidhaveaplanofsorts.Hehadchosento
bypassMadrid,wherethedirectcompetitionofartistswould
befierce,perhapsevenintimidating.HewoulduseSaragossa
to build up his reputation. If he succeeded in these familiar
surroundings,Madridwould,intime,takenoticeofhim.
a FaVOraBLe COmmissiON
WithinweeksofhisarrivalinSaragossa,Goyareceivedacom-
missiontopaintaseriesofworksfortheSobradielPalace,the
homeoftheGabardacounts.Thepaintingsweredoneforthe
palace’s chapel and included four large paintings of biblical
(continues on page 42)
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FRANCISCO GOyA
BeiNG HispaNiC
tHe sOUL OF spaiN
There have, of course, been other great artistic geniuses in the his-
tory of Spain. Some came before Goya, such as El Greco and Diego
Velázquez, and others such as Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso have
followed him. Each Spanish painter has lent his talent in creating a
part of the canvas that is the legacy of Spanish art. With El Greco, for
whom Spain was an adopted home, his legacy was to depict the “spiri-
tual aspiration of the Spanish soul”* on canvas. He created works that
the Catholic Church in Spain could accept as visions of a painter in
love with his God, his church, and of the redemptive spirit of Spanish
Christianity. His paintings revel in the light of theological idealism of
Spain’s sixteenth century.
Following El Greco, Spain’s next great master was Velázquez, the
seventeenth-century painter of Spanish kings, royal families, and of the
splendor of the age of Spain’s powerful rise on the world stage as the
sponsor
of Christopher Columbus. Spain was the great European power
in the New World and the controller of its great wealth, embodied in the
gold and silver delivered from Central and South American mines to the
Spanish treasury in Madrid. Velázquez painted “Spain’s worldly pride
and power.”**
Today, despite the significant contributions of El Greco and
Velázquez, so much of the heritage of Spanish art rests on the shoulders
of Francisco Goya. Perhaps most essential to this heritage is the fact
that Goya always considered Spain and his Hispanic heritage as highly
significant and crucial to his personal identity.
Spain was a constant inspiration to Goya. He is seen as the painter
of the true Spain, of the worlds that Spain was beyond royal portraits and those of aristocracy. Goya presented his view of the real Spain, the
common Spain. He understood it as part of the noble past and present
of the land of his birth and heritage. It can be seen in the subject mat-
ter of so much of his art: This was Goya’s Spain, together with blind
beggars, cripples, cutthroats, lunatics, swaggering majos, flirtatious
Marriage and Career
41
majas, dwarfs, bullfights, carnivals, massacres, picnics beside the
Manzanares, Inquisitiors seeking the Devil. Much of it Goya saw through
a glass darkly.***
Goya had opportunities to leave the land of his birth behind on
more than one occasion. As a young man, he left Spain to study art
in Italy, but once he learned those “lessons” from the great artists of
the Renaissance, he did not remain on the Italian peninsula. Instead,
he returned to Spain, where he would remain for nearly all of his life.
There were visits to France, but Spain was essentially a part of him.
It flowed through his veins and gave him his first identity. He could
no more abandon the land of his birth than he could renounce his
Hispanic roots.
As a result, so much of the artistic work created by Francisco Goya
would manage to capture the very soul of Spain. He is there, at every
twist and turn of Spanish culture during his lifetime, capturing so much
of the spirit of a place and time in his art. He painted an endless num-
ber of important Spanish people: kings, queens, counts, ambassadors,
royal advisors, and wealthy patrons. Goya is also there to paint great