Crisis del Antiguo Régimen - History Lab

The Caprices of Goya

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:28:11 +0000

Web page dedicated to Los Caprichos by Goya, a way of approaching the crisis of the Ancient Regime in Spain, through the painter’s gaze and the image. The Caprichos coincide chronologically with one of the most decisive periods in the History of Spain. In this way we can approach Spanish society at the end of the 18th century and understand the painter’s criticism, linked to those behaviours far removed from the reformism typical of the intellectual circles of the Enlightenment.

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I saw it: Goya, the modern look at art

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:41 +0000

Audio of the programme Documentos RNE on Francisco de Goya. This 55-minute documentary by Ana Vega Toscano explores one of the most singular figures of universal art. It stresses the absolute modernity of his work and the transcendence it has had in the evolution of contemporary art. The extensive and original production of this brilliant painter, with his technical innovations, is explored in parallel with his life and the context of his time, addressing both the myth and the artist. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, through the different phases of his painting, his work reflects the complex process of evolution of the crisis of the Ancien Régime. Although he cannot be considered either an 18th or 19th century painter, he is in fact a contemporary painter in his own right, a precursor of later trends in art such as Impressionism, Expressionism and Surrealism. The documentary features the participation of art historians Manuela Mena Marqués and José Manuel Matilla Rodríguez, curators of the exhibition “Goya. Solo la voluntad me sobra” held in 2019. Also included are contributions by the historian Miguel Artola, the art historian Natacha Seseña and the art historian Alfonso Pérez Sánchez. The programme is completed with a selection of texts and letters by the author and his entourage. A short video clip https://www.rtve.es/alacarta/videos/documentos-rne/documentos-rne-goya-mirada-moderna-del-arte/5440766/ is also available

The post I saw it: Goya, the modern look at art first appeared on History Lab.

Las cigarraleras. Madrid, City of Women

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:41 +0000

The video, which is chronologically long, is part of “Madrid, Ciudad de las Mujeres”, a cultural and tourist application where the traces of women in the city of Madrid are recovered http://madridciudaddelasmujeres.es/. As indicated in the presentation on the website, to which we refer for this description, the Real Fábrica de Tabacos de Madrid was originally built as the Real Fábrica de Naipes y Aguardientes until 1809, when Joseph Bonaparte decided to transform it into a tobacco factory. Initially, snuff was produced for the grinding of which male labour was employed, but with the popularisation of the so-called burning tobacco, women began to enter these factories, as they proved to be more skilful and quicker at rolling cigars, they were cheaper labour, and they were supposed to be more docile and submissive. Women gradually replaced the men, making up almost the entire workforce. The tobacco factory became the first feminised industry in Spain and the one with the largest workforce in Madrid. Initially, production was manual, which allowed the cigarette-makers a flexibility in their work that made it easier to combine their working day with all their household chores and care work. Thus, the workshops were at the same time a nursery, a breastfeeding room and a dining room. But the arrival of mechanisation in 1887 transformed everything that had gone before. With a pleasant and informative tone, this 3.35 minute video, like other content on the website, fulfils the objective of learning collective and personal stories, anecdotes and emblematic places in Madrid through the women.

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The incluse. The wet nurses. Arturo Barea Square (Madrid)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:41 +0000

The video, which is 4.48 minutes long and chronologically presented, is part of “Madrid, Ciudad de las Mujeres”, a cultural and tourist application where the traces of women in the city of Madrid are recovered http://madridciudaddelasmujeres.es/. As indicated in the presentation on the website, to which we refer for this description, the Inclusa de Madrid was a charitable institution dedicated to collecting abandoned children that in 1807 was installed in a large house located in the Plaza de Arturo Barea. The institution, founded two centuries earlier, took in an average of a thousand children a year. Some were abandoned in the adjoining Casa de la Maternidad and others in the lathes that were scattered around Madrid. According to its statutes, the objectives of the Inclusa were to “prevent infanticide and save the honour of mothers” as well as to collect “all children born of illegitimate conception”. Although it could function as a place of temporary abandonment or a place of redistribution of abandoned children among the families of the neighbourhood in exchange for a small amount of money, with the construction of this building it was planned to house them up to the age of seven. The wet nurses of the incluse are a clear example of how care has historically been entrusted to women, especially those from the most fragile economic strata, who made their milk available externally. Women who practised the so-called “mercenary breastfeeding”, a widespread custom among the middle and upper classes. Their working conditions were not good, and not only because of the possibility of falling ill, but also because of their low economic compensation. The Inclusa became a privileged setting in which to debate about care, payment for care and its impact on women’s lives.

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Surveillance of sexuality. The prison for adulteresses. Calle de Atocha, 87 (Madrid)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:41 +0000

The video, 4.33 minutes long, is part of “Madrid, Ciudad de las Mujeres”, a cultural and touristic application where the traces of women in the city of Madrid are recovered http://madridciudaddelasmujeres.es/. As the video recounts, the galleys and hospices of Madrid have, since the beginning of modern times, been a place of reclusion and torture for a whole series of women who did not comply with the established rules. These included poor women, “rogues”, “fortune tellers”, prostitutes and adulteresses. As we entered the 18th century and under enlightened and charitable precepts, the quality and diversity of places of confinement for women diversified, with houses of seclusion and repentance where many women who practised prostitution would end up apart from society and subjected to a regime of beatitudes. Touched, veiled and living under a strict rule that they would only leave to get married or take religious vows. They were also places of confinement for a wide variety of petty crimes such as stealing clothes or vagrancy, and moral offences such as adultery or the highly punishable female adultery. A hospice was founded in the building at Calle de Atocha, 97, in Madrid, which also housed the Colegio de San Nicolás de Bari at the beginning of the 18th century, an institution for women who, “forgetful of their honour or conjugal fidelity, incurred in some crime of impurity”. The video tells the story of some of these condemned women.

The post Surveillance of sexuality. The prison for adulteresses. Calle de Atocha, 87 (Madrid) first appeared on History Lab.

Teresa Montalvo a salonnière. Calle de la Luna (Madrid)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:41 +0000

Teresa Montalvo was a Cuban intellectual whose literary and political salon shone in Madrid at the end of the 18th century, located in an estate that no longer exists on Calle Luna and the old Calle Panaderos. Married to the Count of Jaruco, Teresa’s life changed when she moved to Madrid in 1789. In the capital, her intelligence, personality and social skills turned her house, where she had a large library, into a political, economic and cultural centre that was frequented by Goya, Moratín and other writers and intellectuals of the time. Despite her personal difficulties, such as the death of her husband in 1807 or the rumours that identified her as the lover of José I during the War of Independence, her figure is considered a catalyst of Enlightenment ideas, a facilitator of projects and business – especially between Spain and Cuba – and an intelligent person who knew how to make the most of the Spanish court customs of the time. The video, 4.48 minutes long, is part of “Madrid, Ciudad de las Mujeres”, a cultural and touristic application where the traces of women in the city of Madrid are recovered http://madridciudaddelasmujeres.es/ and to which we refer for this description.

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The washerwomen. Segovia Bridge (Madrid)

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:41 +0000

For centuries, the job of washerwoman was one of the most arduous professions carried out by women. In Madrid, after collecting clothes from private homes or convents and hospitals, they had to take them to the Manzanares River in large sacks to be washed. There they spent long days completely soaked, kneeling on benches placed in the riverbed and exposed to the harsh winter weather. Chilblains and respiratory diseases did not prevent them from handling the wet clothes, sheets and towels. Garments were lathered with soda or potash, beaten and brushed, rinsed and hung, making this a heavy mechanical job. This female work was key to the subsistence economies of the time, to such an extent that the Madrid City Council reserved an important part of the washing benches for poor families in the 18th century, although it was the neighbouring towns of Madrid, such as Hortaleza, which were mainly in charge of cleaning the Court’s clothes. In the middle of the 18th century these banks in Madrid became private, leased for years to a few businessmen, and in order to access them the laundresses had to pay. In 1750, in the part of the river shown in the video there were around 1,142 washing benches, which gives an image of the concentration of workers in this place. The washhouses were small buildings made of reeds and poles for hanging clothes that grew to accommodate a large number of workers to whom the tenant also sold soap. The misery of the washerwomen’s work was hidden by the liveliness and colour of the place, where their children were also present, which attracted the attention of all travellers visiting the capital, especially romantics. The video, 3.51 minutes long, is part of “Madrid, Ciudad de las Mujeres”, a cultural and tourist application where the traces of women in the city of Madrid are recovered http://madridciudaddelasmujeres.es/ and to which we refer for this description.

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Ferdinand VII, a bad reign of a lousy king

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:35 +0000

Radio documentary on Ferdinand VII and his reign. Described in his time as “The Desired One” by a people who saw him as a victim of Godoy, first, and Napoleon, later, he is considered one of the worst kings in the history of Spain. Born in 1784, he was the son of Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma. A conspirator against his father, Napoleon took advantage of the weakness and division of the royal family to force the abdication of the crown and hand it over to his brother Joseph. Exiled in France during the War of Independence, he returned to Spain in 1814. As absolute monarch he annulled the Constitution of Cadiz and persecuted the liberals. After Riego’s uprising, he had no choice but to swear the Constitution in 1820 during the so-called Liberal Triennium. Three years later the absolute monarchy was imposed once again, ushering in the Ominous Decade until his death in 1833. In the absence of a son, he repealed the Salic Law so that his daughter, the Infanta Isabella, could accede to the throne. With the Pragmatic Sanction, the Carlists, supporters of the Infante Carlos María Isidro, saw their hopes of succession collapse, provoking a civil war that would continue throughout the 19th century. Modesta Cruz’s documentary features contributions by Emilio La Parra and Juan Francisco Fuentes, as well as Miguel Artola Gallego, a former Prince of Asturias Award winner.

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Goya: the modern view of art

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:27:35 +0000

Short video clips on the pictorial career of Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes. On the occasion of the bicentenary of the Prado Museum, the digital area of RNE rescues the programmes of Documentos de RNE dedicated to the museum. The modern look of Goya, one of the keys to the History of Art in Spain, is part of this collection. Born in Fuendetodos on 30 March 1746 and died in Bordeaux on 16 April 1828, the programme highlights the merits of the painter, who is considered one of the most important artists in the history of art of all time. Between the 18th and 19th centuries, through the different phases of his painting, his work reflects the complex process of evolution of the crisis of the Ancien Régime. However, the documentary argues that he cannot be considered either an 18th or 19th century painter, but a contemporary painter in his own right, speaking to us of the essence of the human being. The tension between his pessimistic and optimistic view of life in his works is alluded to. However, emphasis is placed on his character as a forerunner of later trends in art such as Impressionism, Expressionism and Surrealism

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