Their liaison probably began after the death of the Duke of Alba in Goya had painted portraits of both husband and wife in Goya was no doubt taken with the Duchess's haughty beauty, with her curvaceous figure, alabaster complexion, and voluminous black curls. Painted the year after the Duke's death, this portrait of the Duchess depicts her in mourning black, wearing the traditional costume of a maja , one of the very stylish members of Spain's lower classes known for their bold behavior.
In posing as a maja , the Duchess was making an attempt to connect with the masses, despite her elevated social standing. Standing with one hand on her hip, she points toward the ground with her other hand, where Goya has lightly drawn his name in the dun-colored sand. When the painting was restored, the word "solo" was uncovered next to Goya's name, implying that the artist was her only love though she wears two rings on her hand, one inscribed "Alba", the other "Goya".
Though the painting was commissioned by the Duchess, Goya kept it in his possession for 15 years, indicating his strong attachment to the work and its subject, or, possibly, the Duchess' inability to accept a work that so openly flaunted an affair. Much of the imagery that would populate Goya's prints and drawings following the end of their affair - women as fickle temptresses, men as cuckolded fools, lovers tortured by uncontrollable passions - has lead art historians to suspect that his heart had been broken by the Duchess.
Goya is as famous for his prints as he is for his paintings, and is known as one of the great masters of the etching and aquatint techniques. The first of his four major print series was Los Caprichos , which consists of 80 numbered and titled plates.
The artist's stated purpose in making the series was to illustrate "the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual.
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters , plate 43 in the series, depicts a sleeping man thought to be Goya himself , surrounded by a swarm of strange flying creatures.
These are the "monsters" of the title, which invade the mind when reason is surrendered to imagination and dreams. Many of the animals Goya depicts hold symbolic meaning: the owls and bats represent ignorance and evil, while the watchful lynx at the artist's feet - a creature known for its ability to see in darkness - alerts us to the importance of distinguishing fact from fiction.
The bat with the goat head may be a satanic reference, and allusions to witchcraft can be found throughout the series. However, as with many of Goya's prints, the intended meaning of the various symbols can be hard to deduce with certainty.
The Caprichos introduces the dark subject matter and mood that would continue to define Goya's work until the end of his life. These works, based on extensive drawings in pen and ink, were expressions of the artist's personal beliefs and ideas, created outside his official work for the court and influential patrons. The painting features an unknown model, believed to be either Godoy's mistress Pepita Tudo, or the Duchess of Alba, who was Goya's supposed lover.
The nude woman is shown reclining on a green velvet chaise with her arms crossed behind her head. Her voluptuous body is angled toward the viewer, and she gazes seductively at the viewer with rosy cheeks that suggest post-coital flush.
Goya broke with conventions of the nude in depicting a real woman not a goddess or allegorical figure with pubic hair, and having her look directly at the viewer; these daring details would influence later modern artists like Manet, whose Olympia certainly owes a debt to the nude Maja. Goya also created a companion piece - La Maja Vestida , or The Clothed Maja - which offers a more chaste version of the same female portrait.
Both works were confiscated by the Spanish Inquisition, but now proudly hang next to each other in Spain's most important museum - The Prado. Goya's response to the atrocities of the Napoleonic invasion of Spain and the six-year conflict that followed was to create a suite of 82 prints. Titled The Disasters of War , the works present a wholesale indictment of wartime, and are divided into three sections: the first shows scenes from the Peninsular War, the second the tragic famine that hit Madrid in , and the third a series of allegorical prints lampooning the repressive government of Ferdinand VII.
The portfolio includes disturbing scenes of rape, torture, violence, and suffering, and is equally critical of both the French and Spanish factions. Goya had been an eyewitness to the war at its inception, but many of the scenes he depicted were based on either second-hand accounts or the artist's imagination. It is difficult to imagine 20 th -century war photography one thinks of the famous images from the My Lai massacre in Vietnam, for instance without Goya's Disasters.
In An Heroic Feat! With Dead Men! Although some have identified the men as French soldiers because of their facial hair, Goya deliberately obscured their nationality in order to illustrate the mutual brutality of Spanish guerilla fighters and French soldiers towards each another. The bodies of the victims are drawn according to classical conventions, with well-proportioned, muscular physiques even if dismembered and tortured.
The undeniable beauty of their forms only enhances the image's tragic impact, and furthers the idea that war and violence are the enemies of beauty and reason. The Disasters of War could not be published during Goya's lifetime due to the damning political message it contained, and did not appear to the public until 35 years after Goya's death. The prints inspired a corresponding series of miniature sculptures by the British artists and twin brothers, Jake and Dinos Chapman, now in the collection of the Tate.
Goya painted The Third of May, and its companion piece, The Second of May, for the Spanish government, which commissioned the works to celebrate the expulsion of the French army in The stated purpose of the pictures was to "perpetuate by means of his brush the most notable and heroic actions of our glorious insurrection against the Tyrant of Europe.
The focal point of the composition is the unarmed man in the brightly lit center, standing with his arms raised in surrender. The dead bodies of just-executed rebels lie at his feet, while a group of soon-to-be shot rebels stand behind him. Who are some famous authors and artists from Spain? Famous artist from Spain? List some famous artists? Who are some famous artists from Spain? What nicknames does Goya Toledo go by?
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What could result if a 30 year old lawyer continued to eat as he did as a 17 years old football player? The analyses of these two art pieces are important to realise and show the emphasis of the world in which we live in and the comments artist intends on showing about it. Accessed November 12, Download paper. Essay, Pages 4 words. Don't use plagiarized sources. Get your custom essay on. Get quality help now. Verified writer. Proficient in: Books. Deadline: 10 days left. Number of pages.
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