FINAL REPORT 1
Final Report
Marion (Mary) Gillie
Sheridan College
FINAL REPORT 2
Table of Contents
Abstract 3
Final Report 4
Background 4
Evolution of Artwork 5
Conclusion 10
References 11
FINAL REPORT 3
Abstract
This report examines the life of Francisco Goya (1746–1828), and the events that
occurred during his lifetime, which became the subject of his artwork. This report displays
a few representative paintings and etchings that demonstrate Goya’s interpretation of
humanity from a world of tranquility to a nightmarish realm. This report examines and
analyses Goya’s artwork and the history behind it.
The information in this report was compiled from multiple articles, texts and
knowledge gained from my high school history class.
FINAL REPORT 4
Final Report
Francisco Goya, a Spanish artist, witnessed the atrocities that were committed in
Spain during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. At the start of Goya’s
career, his artwork had a peaceful tranquility to it. Over the years, it descended slowly into
disturbing, lurid statements of humanity due to the social and political upheaval in Spain.
This unique artwork satirizes the righteousness of the clergy and nobility while revealing
humanity’s most cruel and sinful form. His artistic vision rebelled against authority and
eventually took priority over his need to make a sustainable living. However, Goya’s
artwork has helped shape the artistic community by inspiring artists to question the
boundaries that constrain them through political censorship.
Background
Goya is a Spanish artist who is known for his grotesque “black paintings” and
etchings. Goya’s early works are not well known compared to his later works. The “black
paintings” were known to have made women faint and men cringe when they gazed upon
them. The darkness that is present in the paintings bears witness to numerous events that
Goya had witnessed, such as the effects of Spanish Inquisition (1400−1834), and the
Napoleonic invasion of Spain (1790−1810) where French soldiers tortured and killed
Spanish citizens and rebel troops. Goya suffered an ailment that caused the permanent loss
of his hearing. As Goya grew older, he began to combat his own demons and fell into
despair. All of these traumatic events stirred Goya to create the lurid paintings and sketches
that revolutionized the artistic world.
FINAL REPORT 5
The Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition was a tribunal established in 1480
by the Catholic monarchs. Its original purpose was to maintain a Catholic orthodoxy of
those who converted from Jewish or Islamic religions. The Catholic monarchy wanted to
keep the country purely Catholic and twice issued royal decrees, in 1492 and in 1501, that
acted more like ultimatums, ordering Jews and Muslims to convert to Catholicism or leave
the country.
The Inquisition also ran the censorships, dealt with heresy, and occupied itself with a
wide variety of offences that indirectly related to religious heterodoxy. Their methods of
procuring information were based on accusations, hearsay, and inflicting torture to gain
confessions. People were jailed for months, sometimes years, without knowing the charges
against them. The Spanish Inquisition was abolished in 1834 when it began to lose its
influence over the public during the reign of Isabella II.
Evolution of Artwork
Blind Man’s Bluff
Goya clandestinely criticized figures that held power, such as the clergy and
aristocracy; however, Goya’s “royal patrons protected him after he was denounced from
the Inquisition. Goya had been appointed ‘pintor del rey’ (painter to the king) by two
successive monarchs” (Schwendener, 2011). The criticism in his earlier works is not as
apparent as in his later creations. Blind Man’s Bluff, (Figure 1) is an earlier piece that has
an unexciting yet joyful quality about it. The artwork shows “[a] theme of innocent but
highly civilized amusement” (Licht, 1979). This painting would “decorate a suite of rooms
in a pleasure palace” (Lilcht, 1979) and was likely created during a peaceful time in Spain.
FINAL REPORT 6
Goya’s perception of
humanity still has an
innocent quality to it, yet
the painting is a little
satirical considering the
nobles are depicted playing
in a field instead of in an
area of power. Their size
seems relatively small
compared to the world
around them.
The Third of May, 1808
“The year 1814 marks the creation of Goya’s most emblematic work: The Execution
of Madrilenos on the Third of May, 1808” (Licht, 1979) (Figure 2). This painting clearly
describes the “revolutionary spirit that marked Goya’s day and is still the primary force of
our own day … painted to celebrate the return of the Spanish Bourbons after the fall of
Napoleon” (Licht, 1979).
In this painting “Goya throws aside all traditions in a way that will deliberately make
us aware of the traditions he is about to destroy” in order to reveal the horrors that have
taken place (Licht, 1979).
Figure 1. Goya, Blind Man’s Bluff (La gallina ciega). Prado, Madrid http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7e/Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Blind_Man's_Buff_-_WGA10006.jpg
FINAL REPORT 7
In The Third of May, 1808, the viewer is pulled into the “brutal scene of murder and
anguish” (Licht, 1979). The
power behind the painting is the
ferocious shock value depicted
by the cold-blooded murder of
Spanish civilians. The central
figure “calls out in the hope of
being heard” (Licht, 1979);
however, seeing the corpses
that lie beside the men, the
viewer concludes that his cries
for help will go unanswered.
Moreover, the composition of the painting was well planned. The cadaver lying in the
foreground tells the viewer that he used to be standing with the other men moments ago
and that they will be joining him soon.
In addition, the figures are placed
“leaving room for [the viewer] only
behind the French execution squad”
(Licht, 1979). Observably Goya’s oeuvre
begins to shift into a more dark and
despairing view of humanity.
Figure 2. Goya, The Third of May, 1808. http://smarthistory.khanacademy.org/assets/images/images/goya3may.jpg
Figure 3 Plate 37: Esto es peor (This is worse). http://www.artchive.com/artchive/g/goya/goya_worse.jpg
FINAL REPORT 8
Etchings
The reason behind the
change in Goya’s perception of
humanity is what he witnessed.
Goya recorded a variety of
atrocities that were committed
in “two sketchbooks, detailing
abuses by the Roman Catholic Church, societal ills from pedophilia to prostitution, and
rampant superstition in an age of revolution and terror” (Schwendener, 2011). He also
“was witness to the brutality of Napoleonic occupation in his country. His series of
engravings, The Disasters of War, is a collection of prints that depict the horror and cruelty
inflicted upon Spain by Napoleon” (Newman, 2002, p. 274). Goya witnessed the aftermath
of the battles when French troops would dismember Spaniards and then hang their torsos
and severed limbs in trees as if they were decorative
ornaments. Goya recorded the brutality in his sketchbooks
and later made them into etchings, capturing the horror and
cruelty of the French troops. This senseless violence
shocked Goya and started to make him question the virtue
of humanity.
Goya also criticized the clergy by creating a piece “in
which they are shown as drunken, gluttonous ghouls”
(Schwendener, 2011). Goya challenged the authority of the
clergy by depicting them as disingenuous, demeaning their
Figure 4. Goya. A Heroic Feat! With Dead Men! http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l43ahgwv6s1qbpv32o1_500.jpg
Figure 5. Goya, Hobgoblins http://a1reproductions.com/hobgoblins-by-francisco-de-goya-y-lucientes-oil-painting.html
FINAL REPORT 9
stature and removing all virtuousness from their position.
Goya continued to comment socially on the upper class
“and somehow managed to survive the political turmoil
ravaging Spain” (Lui, 2010). The darkness in his artwork
increased as more mayhem occurred in Goya’s life.
Saturn Devouring his Sons
Near the end of his life, Goya began to combat
psychological demons of his own. He created the “’Black
Paintings, applied directly on the plaster walls of the house
outside Madrid” (Schwendener, 2011). These paintings are
“depictions of desperation and darkness” (Singer, 2007). Historians believe that these
paintings were inspired from Goya’s maddening world that grew darker until the day he
died. In Goya’s “black paintings,” creatures and monsters were used as “representatives of
depraved humanity emerg[ing] from the shadow” (Lui, 2010).
Saturn Devouring his Sons (Figure 6) is a prime example of the descent into darkness
in Goya’s paintings. The gore and disturbing pose in the painting are the polar opposites of
his earlier oeuvre. These paintings all “contain some of the most horrifying and fantastic
creations of Goya’s imagination” and they all “evoke a timeless response that both repulses
and invites for a closer inspection” (Lui, 2010).
Throughout history, people and “many artists have been drawn to things dark and
fantastic, but few have probed the human condition with the insight and truthfulness found
Figure 6. Goya, Saturn Devouring his Sons. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Francisco_de_Goya,_Saturno_devorando_a_su_hijo_(1819-1823).jpg/300px-Francisco_de_Goya,_Saturno_devorando_a_su_hijo_(1819-1823).jpg
FINAL REPORT 10
in these images” (Lui, 2010). Goya is one of very few artists who challenged human
morality, crimes against humanity and the dualistic aristocratic way of life.
Conclusion
The Spanish Inquisition and the Napoleonic invasion of Spain influenced Goya’s
psyche. These events helped to shape his attitudes towards the people who held power and
the disintegration of moral humanity during that time. His beliefs and righteousness pushed
him to create pieces of art that could have put his life in jeopardy. His controversial
depictions of the era are now studied and considered to be national treasures of Spain.
FINAL REPORT 11
References
Licht, F. (1979). Goya, the origins of the modern temper in art. New York: Universe.
Liu, A. (2010, June). Fear and folly: Francisco Goya and Federico Castellon. World and I,
25(6). Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.library.sheridanc.on.ca/ps/i.do?
id=GALE%7CA231408881&v=2.&u=ko_acd_sch&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w
Newman G. (2002). Legacy: The west and the world. pp. 274−275. Toronto: McGraw-Hill
Ryerson Limited.
Schwedener, M. (2011, October 30). Goya’s dark etchings from a past full of horrors. The
New York Times, p. 10(L). Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com.library.sheridanc.on.ca/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CA271106477&v=2.1&u=ko_acd_sch&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w
Singer, M. (2007, July 23). Ghostly. The New Yorker, 83(20), 22. Retrieved from
http://go.galegroup.com.library.sheridanc.on.ca/ps/i.do?id=GALE
%7CA166721416&v=2.1&u=ko_acd_shc&it=r&p=AONE&sw=w
Top Related