Goya

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It is a billy goat delivering a harangue to a gathering of witches.

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A male goat is called cabrón in Spanish and both that word and horns are commonly used as the gravest of insults.

The painting is called El Aquelarre, The Witches’ Sabbath.
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It is part of the Pinturas negras, the dark paintings that Goya made on the wall of his living room when he was ill and had to stay at home.

There had been a war, and he had become hard of hearing:

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Goya is considered the last of the old masters and the beginning of modern art.  He did not try to paint things exactly as he saw them, but wanted to capture their meaning.

And sometimes, on his drawings, he wrote his own explicit commentaries.

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He knew about torture and said so.

In the US this is known as enhanced interrogation.

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Goya often painted beautiful women, and they liked their painter, though, unlike Velazquez, he never tried to become part of their class.

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The Duchess of Alba had probably been Goya’s girl friend, but it has never been confirmed that the Maja Desnuda was that duchess. It did cause a stir.

It would cause a stir even now.

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This is the Duchess again, now in one of her pretty dresses. She was rich, playful, and perhaps arrogant.

The little dog is mimicking the owner’s appearance.

The painting is now at the Palacio de Liria, the Madrid home of the contemporary Duchess of Alba.

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These last two pictures are both from Google images at http://tinyurl.com/6k9gy3g

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A beggar is asking for money.

A little dog shares his humiliation.

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Under Napoleon the French tried to invade Spain. The people fought as best they could and many got tortured or shot as rebels, but Napoleon had to leave.

In the background you see the buildings of Madrid’s main square now called Puerta del Sol.

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The pictures are from the Wikimedia Goya Archives and some are adapted from this great NoguerRizzoli edition. It is out of print, but sometimes still available at ABE Books:

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Goya lived from 1746 to 1828.

Most of his paintings are at the Prado in Madrid, Spain.

Unlike other art museums, the Prado shows the personal collections of some of Spain’s kings. That is why the Prado  is so different. Other museums tend to display whatever famous stuff they could afford to buy or steal (or loot in war). The Prado is home to the personal collections of two or three kings.

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Location of Spain:

light green = the Europan Union
dark green = Spain
dark gray = Europe not belonging to the union

Quote:

Goya, after having been received by the king and his famiy: “I am beginning to have bigger and better enemies.”

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