Goya - History Lab

José Moñino y Redondo, Count of Floridablanca

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:59 +0000

Portrait by Goya of one of the most important enlightened politicians of 18th-century Spain. Of humble origins, his key role in the expulsion and extinction of the Jesuits elevated him to the rank of Secretary of State under Charles III and Charles IV. He was an emblem of royalism and enlightened despostism, typical of Bourbon reformism. Goya portrayed him on several occasions.

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The family of Charles IV

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:31:03 +0000

The Family of Carlos IV belongs to a series of royal portraits begun by Goya in 1799, on the eve of Napoleon’s Consulate, which promised to pacify the tumultuous past decade. Goya placed the fourteen figures depicted in an austere interior without carpets, decorating only the back wall. The painting is based, as has often been claimed, on Las Meninas of 1656. The modifications made by the artist from Zaragoza differed from Velázquez’s details, such as the definition of space (none in this work) and the close relationship of Velázquez’s figures as opposed to the introspective depictions of arlos IV’s family. In the centre of the painting is the figure of the queen, dressed like the other infantas in a brilliant French-style dress, on which she wears the sash of the Royal Order of Noble Ladies founded by her in 1794. In addition, she imitates the Infanta’s posture, which several historians considered to be a satire on the Queen because of her advanced age. Emerging from the half-light, Ferdinand appears dressed in the blue of the principality of Asturias. His brother, Carlos María Isidro, holds him by the waist, a curious attitude that could be interpreted as a predisposition to succeed Ferdinand if necessary, and which seems to announce his intention in 1833 to claim the throne for his niece Isabella, a fact that would lead to the future Carlist Wars. The lady in lost profile represents Ferdinand’s future wife, thought to be Caroline of Saxe-Weimar, until in 1802 it was Maria Antonia of Naples. King Charles IV is depicted in full dress, with a golden fleece, and bands and badges of the order of Charles III, the Neapolitan order of San Gennaro and the four Spanish orders (Santiago, Montesa, Calatrava and Alcántara).

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Boys playing soldiers

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

This tapestry cartoon by Goya shows children playing at being soldiers, marching with their rifles on their shoulders and beating a drum. The animation of the lead soldier, the martial air and the childlike, graceful pride with which he faces the spectator constitute one of the highest achievements in the depiction of childhood in Goya’s entire oeuvre. The resulting tapestry hung in the dining room of the Princes of Asturias (the future Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma).

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The 12th Marquise of Villafranca painting her husband

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

María Tomasa de Palafox, Marquise of Villafranca, received a careful education under the personal guidance of her mother, María Francisca de Sales Portocarreño, Countess of Montijo. The Countess was secretary for 18 years of the Junta de Damas de Honor y Mérito, an institution founded in 1775 within the framework of the Real Sociedad Económica Matritense, which was very actively involved in social reform programmes (such as the education of women and the improvement of women’s and inclusive prisons). María Tomasa continued her mother’s work and participated in the activities of the Sociedad Matritense, showing great interest in new pedagogical ideas and scientific development. Thus, they claimed women’s rights outside the discourse of excellence, which accepted equality as valid only for those women who were considered extraordinary for their qualities. However, the artistic, scientific and literary academies did not exclude women, but in practice, few were able to join them. The San Fernando Academy was one of the first to allow women to join, and in 1766 it had ten women painters and an honorary president, the Countess of Fuentes. The Academy frequently placed limits on women’s training in painting and they were not allowed to attend classes in life drawing or nudes, nor were they allowed to deviate from “feminine” subjects such as paintings of flowers or landscapes.

The post The 12th Marquise of Villafranca painting her husband first appeared on History Lab.

The industry

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

In the 18th century, the enlightened project of the Bourbon Monarchy opened the doors of the guilds to women, eliminating the restrictions that had excluded them until then without incorporating new forms of production. From then on, the first public schools for girls from the lower classes were promoted, giving them an essential role in the tasks “proper to their sex” (those related to textiles). The textile workshops were spaces of sociability and mutual support for women who worked 12-14 hour days in less healthy hygienic conditions than the work suggests. Neither age nor health were clear limits to their involvement in the task of spinning linen, cotton, silk or wool, work that took place in factories in rural areas and, especially, in the domestic sphere. Some women became masters in trades linked to the textile industry, such as cordwainers or weavers, although this may be an exception.

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The game of ball

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:26 +0000

Goya emphasised on the cardboard delivery invoice the large number of figures included, each occupying his exact position in the game (forward, centre-half and fullback), together with twenty-five other figures of different ages and attitudes. Pelota games, of French origin, spread throughout Spain with great success in the Basque Country, where even then every village had its own fronton. Goya depicted the specific moment of the game, when the ball, on the ground, has reached the chaza, the place where the ball stops before it reaches the winning line. The resulting tapestry hung in the dining room of the princes of Asturias (the future Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma).

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The wedding

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:19 +0000

The scene, portrayed by Francisco de Goya, takes place under the arch of a stone bridge, where a wedding procession is presented in a rather unequal manner. The determined and beautiful young woman is to be married to a fat, ugly but wealthy man. The bride’s father, wearing a threadbare coat, follows the bridal party with an obliging gesture. The bride’s friends, the wenches, smile with malicious envy and the priest seems to laugh at the father, while a young man in profile, perhaps a rejected suitor, watches the procession pass by with an altered gesture. Thus Goya presents the marriages of convenience so denounced by the Enlightenment, as in Fernández de Moratín’s comedy, “El sí de las niñas” (“The Girl’s Yes”). The tapestry of this cartoon was intended for the decoration “of country and jocular matters” on the main wall of Charles IV’s office in the palatial area of San Lorenzo de El Escorial.

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Hunting with a lure

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:19 +0000

Depicted by Francisco de Goya at the end of the 18th century, the composition shows a hunting stand with two caged birds (an owl and a goldfinch). The scene is completed by a crouching dog and a net over the tree that frames the group. It was part of Goya’s first commission for the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Bárbara in 1774-75. The composition was the invention of Francisco Bayeu, who, according to surviving documents, was in keeping with the monarchs’ use of the Royal Site of El Escorial for hunting during the autumn. The resulting tapestry was intended to decorate the overdoor in the dining room of the Princes of Asturias (Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma).

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Hunting party

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:19 +0000

The scene depicted by the painter Francisco de Goya shows two different types of hunting: on foot and on horseback (as well as small game). It was part of the first commission the master from Zaragoza received for the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Bárbara in 1774-75, although the composition was the invention of Francisco Bayeu. This scene was in keeping with the monarchs’ use of the Royal Site of El Escorial, where they spent the autumn. This composition also formed part of the dining room set for the Princes of Asturias (Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma)

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The afternoon snack

ad_hlab_min — Sat, 19 Feb 2022 16:30:19 +0000

Tapestry cartoon by Goya depicting a group of majos, seated on the banks of the Manzanares on the outskirts of Madrid, resting, eating, drinking and smoking while toasting the orange seller who has approached them with his merchandise. On the right, the hermitage of the Virgen del Puerto can be glimpsed, hidden by a group of trees. The tapestry resulting from this cartoon would hang in the dining room of the Princes of Asturias (Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma) in the Palacio del Pardo, being one of the ten tapestries that made up the series of “country scenes”

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