THE SPANISH SERIES
GOYA
THE SPANISH SERIES
_EDITED BY ALBERT F. CALVERT_
GOYA
TOLEDO
MADRID
SEVILLE
MURILLO
CORDOVA
EL GRECO
VELAZQUEZ
THE PRADO
THE ESCORIAL
ROYAL PALACES OF SPAIN
SPANISH ARMS AND ARMOUR
GRANADA AND THE ALHAMBRA
LEON, BURGOS, AND SALAMANCA
CATALONIA, VALENCIA AND MURCIA
VALLADOLID, OVIEDO, SEGOVIA,
ZAMORA, AVILA, AND ZARAGOZA
GOYA
AN ACCOUNT OF HIS LIFE
AND WORKS BY ALBERT F.
CALVERT, WITH 612 REPRODUCTIONS
FROM HIS
PICTURES, ETCHINGS, AND
LITHOGRAPHS
LONDON: JOHN LANE, THE BODLEY HEAD
NEW YORK: JOHN LANE COMPANY MCMVIII
_To_
_THE MARQUIS OF COMILLAS_
_My dear Marquis,_
_I beg you to accept the dedication of this volume as a mark of the
high value I place upon your friendship, and as a sincere
expression of my esteem for yourself as a patron of the arts, a
true philanthropist, and a lifelong worker in the interests of
Spanish greatness._
_I am, my dear Marquis,_
_Your sincere and obliged,_
_ALBERT F. CALVERT._
Edinburgh: T. and A. CONSTABLE, Printers to His Majesty
PREFACE
It has been said that in England everybody knows of Cervantes, but very
few persons have more than a nodding acquaintance with _Don Quixote_,
and Goya’s reputation in this country is even less securely founded. The
great Aragonese is indeed little more than a name to the general public,
and his work is literally unknown. Two little books--Mr. W.
Rothenstein’s _Goya_, now out of print, and a monograph by Mr. Richard
Muther in the Langham Series--are the only volumes in English dealing
exclusively with a painter who for more than half a century might have
been described, with more aptness than that with which the words were
applied to Zurbarán, as ‘All Spain.’ As sincere a lover and as brilliant
a transcriber of the beautiful as Watteau and Van Loo, a greater realist
than Hogarth, and in portraiture second only to Velazquez, Goya stands
out as the greatest artist Spain has produced since the death of the
great Court painter of Philip IV.
The fact that Spanish art reflects the aspirations and is largely
concerned with the representation of scenes selected by its chief
patron, the Spanish Catholic Church, accounts, in some measure, for the
lack of sympathy and appreciation with which it is regarded in this
country, but this prejudice does not explain the neglect from which Goya
has suffered. Goya, it is true, accepted commissions from the Church,
but his religious subjects do not comprise a tenth of his canvases, and
in his etchings and engravings he is seen only as a secular moralist. As
the painter of the Spanish Rococo period, he dipped his brush in beauty,
gaiety, and humour; as a portraitist he was vivid, surprising,
audacious, a maker of masterpieces; while his etchings constitute an
unrivalled commentary upon the spirit of the age, recorded by its ‘most
fearless and advanced thinker.’
Goya’s art would appear to be the reflection of his life. His youth was
disordered and tempestuous; in the height of his success he accepted
favours, but he was too conscientious an artist to repay the adulation
of the world by flattering it in his canvases; and he published his
disillusions in the biting satire of his Caprices and Proverbs.
The authorities I have consulted would make a formidable list, but among
those to whom I am under special obligation I must mention the ‘Lives’
of Goya by the Conde de la Viñaza, Paul Lefort, Paul Lafond, W.
Rothenstein, Richard Muther and Julius Hofmann; Valerian von Loga’s
works on Goya’s etchings and engravings; Don Juan de la Rada’s chapter
on ‘Goya’s Frescoes in the Church of San Antonio de la Florida;’
Muther’s appreciation of Goya in his _History of Modern Painting_;
Stirling-Maxwell’s _Annals of the Artists of Spain_; Carl Justi’s
‘Sketch of Spanish Art’ in Baedeker’s _Spain and Portugal_; C. Gasquoine
Hartley’s _Spanish Painting_; the _Boletin de la Sociedad Española de
Excursiones_; and Théophile Gautier’s brilliant study of Goya in his
_Travels in Spain_.
In making the collection of Goya’s works that is presented at the end of
this volume, I have taken the line of least resistance and included
reproductions of every picture, etching, or lithograph that I could
acquire. However inadequate photography and ‘process’ may be to convey
an impression of the original works, I have endeavoured to give English
students an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the subjects and
general nature of much of the output of Goya’s sixty years of artistic
effort.
In the compilation of the appended exhaustive catalogue of Goya’s works,
which I am not without hope may be found of practical value, I have
derived no little assistance from Spanish and German publications and
from the list prepared by M. Paul Lafond. To Señor Don Mariano Moreno,
who has made a special study of Goya and his work, I am indebted for
descriptions of many pictures which are published here for the first
time, and my thanks are also due to him for permission to reproduce from
his collection a number of photographs which were new to me. I have also
to acknowledge the kindness of the authorities of the Academy of San
Fernando in allowing me to publish copies of the different prints of
Goya’s works issued by the Academy; and to express my thanks to Señor
Don J. Lacoste, Messrs. Braun, Clement and Co., Messrs. Mansell and Co.,
and Herr Franz Hanfstaengl, for their courtesy in supplying me with
various pictures included in this collection and permitting me to
reproduce them.
A. F. C.
ILLUSTRATIONS
PLATE SUBJECT GALLERY
1. The Family of Charles IV., Prado, Madrid.
2. The Infante Don Carlos, Prado, Madrid.
3. The Infante Francisco de Paula
Antonio, Prado, Madrid.
4. The Infanta Maria Josefa, Prado, Madrid.
5. The Infante Don Antonio, Prado, Madrid.
6. The Infante Don Carlos Maria
Isidro, Prado, Madrid.
7. King Charles IV., Ministerio de Hacienda,
Madrid.
8. King Charles IV., Ministerio de Hacienda,
Madrid.
9. King Charles IV.,
10. King Charles IV., Royal Palace, Madrid.
11. King Charles IV., Prado, Madrid.
12. King Charles IV., Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
13. Queen Maria Luisa, Don A. de Beruete, Madrid.
14. Queen Maria Luisa, Don José Lázan.
15. Queen Maria Luisa, Ministerio de Hacienda,
Madrid.
16. Queen Maria Luisa, Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
17. Queen Maria Luisa, Prado, Madrid.
18. Queen Maria Luisa, Prado, Madrid.
19. Ferdinand VII., Academy of St. Ferdinand,
Madrid.
20. Ferdinand VII., Prado, Madrid.
21. Ferdinand VII., Prado, Madrid.
22. Ferdinand VII., Ancient Collection of Eustaquio
Veate.
23. Don Luis, Prince of Parma, Prado, Madrid.
24. Duchess of Abrantes, Duquesa de Abrantes,
Madrid.
25. Duchess of Alba, Don Rafael Barrio.
26. Duchess of Alba, Palacio de Liria, Madrid.
27. Duchess of Alba, Duque de Alba, Madrid.
28. Duchess of Alba,
29. Condesa de Altamira and Daughter, Marques de Cervera.
30. Count of Altamira, Bank of Spain, Madrid.
31. The Infante Don Luis de Borbon, Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
32. Altamirano, Auditor of Seville, Marques de la Vega Inclan.
33. Don Manuel Lapeña, Marques de
Bondad Real, Don Joaquin Argamanilla.
34. Marquesa de Caballero, Marques de Cervera.
35. Conde de Cabarrus, Bank of Spain, Madrid.
36. The Wife of Cean Bermudez, Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
37. J. Cean Bermudez, Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
38. Doña Lorenzo Correa, M. Bischoffsheim, Paris.
39. The Toreador Costillares, Don José Lazaro.
40. Don Joaquin Maria Ferrer, Count of Candilla.
41. Condesa-Duquesa de Benavente y
Osuna, Madrid.
42. Doña Manuela de Alvarez Coiñas, Marquis of Baroja.
43. Florida Blanca, Marquesa de Martorell.
44. Don Antonio Foraster, Don J. Millan.
45. The Engineer Ignacio Garcini, The Garcini Family,
Madrid.
46. Doña Josefa Castilla-Portugal, Don Vicente Garcini.
47. Don Juan Antonio Cuervo, Don F. Duran.
48. Doña Maria Ildefonso Dabalos, Count of Villagonzalo.
49. General Don Juan Marlin, Don Luis Navas.
50. Godoy, Prince of the Peace, Academy of St. Ferdinand,
Madrid.
51. F. Guillemardet, Louvre, Paris.
52. Jaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, Marquesa de Villamajor,
Madrid.
53. Asensio Julia, Comtesse de Paris.
54. The Milkmaid of Bordeaux, Condesa Vinda de Muguiro.
55. Asensio Julia, Louvre, Paris.
56. Marquesa de Lazan, Comtesse de Montijo.
57. Don Francisco Larrumbe, Bank of Spain, Madrid.
58. The Bookseller of the Calle de
Carretas, Don Benito Garriga.
59. Don J. Antonio Llorente, Don Francisco Llorente y
Garcia de Vinuesa.
60. Duke of San Carlos, Marques de la Torrecilla.
61. Duke of San Carlos, Conde de Villagonzalo.
62. The Actor Isidoro Maiquez, Prado, Madrid.
63. The Actor Isidoro Maiquez, Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
64. Countess of Miranda del Castañar, Formerly in the Montijo
Collection.
65. Conde de Miranda,
66. Leandro Fernandez de Moratin, Academy of St. Ferdinand,
Madrid.
67. The Family of the Countess of
Montijo, Palacio de Liria, Madrid.
68. Señor J. B. de Muguiro, Condesa Vinda de Muguiro.
69. Marques de Castro Terreño,
70. Marquesa de Castro Terreño,
71. Camarón, Doña E. Camarón.
72. Muñarriz, Academy of St. Ferdinand,
Madrid.
73. Duke of Osuna and Family, Prado, Madrid.
74. Admiral Mazaredo, Don M. Hernando.
75. Meléndez Valdés, Señor Suárez Inclán.
76. Duke of Osuna, Formerly in the Collection
of the Duke of Osuna.
77. Duke of Osuna, Marquesa de Villamajor,
Madrid.
78. Duke of Osuna, M. Duniat, Paris.
79. Duke of Osuna, Formerly in the Palace
of the Duque de Osuna,
Madrid.
80. Duquesa del Parque, Marques de la Vega,
Madrid.
81. Doctor Peral, National Gallery, London.
82. General Palafox, Prado, Madrid.
83. Doña Isabel Corbo de Porcel, National Gallery, London.
84. Don Tiburcio Perez, D. F. Duran and Cuervo.
85. Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo, Academy of History,
Madrid.
86. Don Tomás Pérez Estala, Countess of Cedillo.
87. Don Pantaleón Perez de Nenin, Don P. Labat.
88. Marquesa de Pontejos, Marquesa de Martorell.
89. Don Ramón Pignatelli, Duquesa de Villahermosa.
90. General Ricardos, Madrid.
91. The Toreador José Romero, Madrid.
92. Marques de San Adrián, Collection of the Family.
93. The Espada Pedro Romero, Duque de Veragua.
94. Ramon Satue, Dr. Benito Garriga.
95. Don Manuel Silvela, Don F. Silvela.
96. Doña Maria Teresa Apodaca de
Sesma, Don Andres Arteta.
97. Marquesa de la Solana, Marques del Socorro.
98. General Urrutia, Prado, Madrid.
99. Maria del Rosario Fernandez, Academy of St. Ferdinand,
Madrid.
100. Maria del Rosario Fernandez, Conde de Villagonzalo.
101. Marques de Tolosa, Bank of Spain, Madrid.
102. Conde de Teba, Don J. Lázaro.
103. José de Vargas Ponce, Academy of History,
Madrid.
104. Don José de Toro Zambrano, Bank of Spain, Madrid.
105. Doña Antonia Zarate, Señora Vinda de Albacete.
106. Doña Antonia Zarate, Señora Vinda de Albacete.
107. Doña Lola Zimenez, M. Chiramy, Paris.
108. Don Evaristo Perez de Castro, Louvre, Paris.
109. Don Juan José Mateo Arias Dairla, Marquesa de Almaguer.
110. Father Lascanal, Don J. Lázaro.
111. Don Ramon de Posada y Soto, Don José Maria Perez
Caballero.
112. Marques de Caballero, Marques de Cervera,
Madrid.
113. Conde de Gazinza, Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
114. Moratin, Don F. Silvela.
115. The Artist, Academy of St. Ferdinand,
Madrid.
116. The Artist, Don A. Pidal.
117. The Artist,
118. The Artist, M. Leon Bonnet.
119. The Artist, by Vicente Lopez, Prado, Madrid.
120. Don J. B. de Goicoechea, Don Felipe Modet.
121. Goya’s Grandson, Marques de Alcañices.
122. Doña Feliciana Bayeu, Don C. Ferriz.
123. Don Juan Martin de Goicoechea, Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
124. Doña Narcisa Barañona de
Goicoechea, Don Felipe Modet.
125. Doña Juana Galarza de Goicoechea, Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
126. Francisco Bayeu, Prado, Madrid.
127. Josefa Bayeu, Prado, Madrid.
128. Group of Heads, Comtesse de Paris.
129. Portrait Study of a Woman,
130. Portrait of a Young Girl, Private Property.
131. Portrait of a Lady,
132. Portrait of a Lady, Conde de Peñalvez.
133. Portrait of a Lady, Don José Lázaro.
134. Portrait of a Lady, Don A. de Beruete.
135. Portrait of a Lady, Don A. de Beruete.
136. Portrait of a Lady, Don A. de Beruete.
137. Portrait of a Lady, Don R. Garcia.
138. Portrait of a Woman, Louvre, Paris.
139. A Little Girl, Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
140. Portrait of a Lady, Don J. Gutierrez Martin.
141. Young Spanish Woman, Louvre, Paris.
142. Portrait of a Man, Private Collection.
143. The Old Man, Conde de Da. Marina.
144. Portrait of an Architect,
145. Portrait of a Doctor,
146. Portrait of a Lady,
147. Portrait of a Lady,
148. Portrait of a Lady,
149. Portrait of a Lady,
150. Portrait of a Man,
151. Portrait of a Lady, Señor Orossen.
152. Portrait of a Lady,
153. Portrait of a Gentleman,
154. Charles IV., Comtesse de Paris.
155. Queen Maria Luisa, Comtesse de Paris.
156. The Infanta Isabel, Comtesse de Paris.
157. Portrait of a Man,
158. Don Felix Colon, Don Ricardo Traumann,
Madrid.
159. Don Felix Colon, Don Ricardo Traumann,
Madrid.
160. Portrait of a Man,
161. Portrait of a Boy,
162. Portrait of a Boy,
163. Portrait of a Boy,
164. Portrait of a Lady,
165. Portrait of a Lady,
166. Portrait of a Lady,
167. Portrait of a Young Lady, Mons. C. G., Paris.
168. Episode of the French Invasion of
1808, Prado, Madrid.
169. Episode of the French Invasion of
1808, Duquesa de Villahermosa.
170. Casting Bullets by Moonlight in the
Hills of Tardienta, Royal Palace, Madrid.
171. Scenes of the 2nd May 1808, Prado, Madrid.
172. Battle-Scene, Marques de Casa Torres,
Madrid.
173. Manufacturing Powder in the Sierra
de Tardienta, Royal Palace, Madrid.
174. The Tribunal of the Inquisition, Prado, Madrid.
175. The Procession of Flagellants, Academy of St. Ferdinand,
Madrid.
176. A Meeting of the Company of the
Philippines,
177. The City of Madrid: an Allegory, Corporation of Madrid.
178. Music: an Allegory, Don Luis Navas.
179. Spain making History, Don Luis Navas.
180. The Madhouse, Prado, Madrid.
181. The Majas of the Balcony, Duque de Marchesa.
182. The Majas of the Balcony,
183. The Majas of the Balcony,
184. La Maja (Nude), Prado, Madrid.
185. La Maja (Clothed), Prado, Madrid.
186. The Knife-Grinder, Budapest.
187. The Water-Carrier, Budapest.
188. Old Age, Lille Museum.
189. Robbery of a Coach, Marques de Castro Serna.
190. Brigands, Marques de la Romana.
191. Brigand murdering a Woman, Marques de la Romana.
192. Brigands stripping their Captives, Marques de la Romana.
193. Murder by Brigands, Marques de la Romana.
194. Brigands’ Cave, Marques de la Romana.
195. Goya and the Duchess of Alba, Marques de la Romana.
196. The Plague Terror, Marques de la Romana.
197. The Monk’s Visit, Marques de la Romana.
198. A Masquerade, Duquesa de Villahermosa.
199. The Dance, Marques de la Torrecilla.
200. The Funeral of the Sardine, Academy of St. Ferdinand,
Madrid.
201. The Booth at the Fair, Marques de Castro Serna.
202. The Greasy Pole, Marques de Castro Torres.
203. The Bonfire, Conde de Villagonzalo.
204. Nocturnal Scene, Marques de la Romana.
205. The Picnic, Marques de la Torrecilla.
206. The Inundation, Marques de Castro Serna.
207. The Village on Fire, Marques de Castro Serna.
208. Caprice, Doña C. Berganza de
Martin.
209. Caprice, Doña C. Berganza de
Martin.
210. Caprice, Don A. Pidal.
211. Dogs and Guns: Design for
Tapestry, Prado, Madrid.
212. A Dead Bird, Prado, Madrid.
213. Dead Birds, Prado, Madrid.
214. A Picador on Horseback, Prado, Madrid.
215. Picador and Bull, Marques de Baroja.
216. Death of the Picador, Paris.
217. A Bull-Fight, Bequeathed to the Royal
Academy, Madrid.
218. A Bull escaped from the Arena, Duque de Veragua.
219. Meeting of Witches, Prado, Madrid.
220. Galician Shepherds fighting, Prado, Madrid.
221. The Procession, Conde de Candilla.
222. Caprice, Prado, Madrid.
223. The Fates, Prado, Madrid.
224. Saturn devouring one of his
Children, Prado, Madrid.
225. Judith and Holofernes, Prado, Madrid.
226. Two Monks,
227. The Maja, From Goya’s Country
House near Madrid.
228. A Caprice,
229. Listening to the News, Prado, Madrid.
230. A Group of Witches, Prado, Madrid.
231. A Group of Witches, Prado, Madrid.
232. The Bull-Fight,
233. Pilgrimage to the Fountain of San
Isidro, Prado, Madrid.
234. Meeting of Witches, Prado, Madrid.
235. Two Old People eating Porridge, Prado, Madrid.
236. The Mass of Parida, Marques de la Torrecilla.
237. The Topers,
238. Women of Madrid, and Friars, Marques de Casa Torres.
239. The Majas and the Majo,
240. The Witch,
241. Laughing Women, Prado, Madrid.
242. The Swing, Duke de Montellano.
243. The Greasy Pole, Duke de Montellano.
244. The Accident, Duke de Montellano.
245. Coach attacked by Bandits, Duke de Montellano.
246. Building the Church, From the Collection of the
Duque de Osuna.
247. The Village Procession, From the Collection of the
Duque de Osuna.
248. Summer: Threshers of Wheat, Don Ricardo Traumann.
249. The Hermitage of San Isidro, Don P. F. Durán.
250. The Wounded Mason, Don P. F. Durán.
251. The Hermitage of San Isidro, Prado, Madrid.
252. Scene from the Play ‘El hechizado
por fuerza’--The Bewitched, National Gallery, London.
253. The Picnic, National Gallery, London.
254. Herd of Bulls coming from the } From the Collection of the
Muñoza, } Duque de Osuna.
255. A Caprice, From the Collection of the
Duque de Osuna.
256. A Witches’ Conventicle, From the Collection of the
Duque de Osuna.
257. Sorcery Scene, From the Collection of the
Duque de Osuna.
258. Don Juan and the Comendador, From the Collection of the
Duque de Osuna.
259. Don Quixote,
260. St. Bernard of Siena, Church of San Francisco
el Grande.
261. St. Bernard of Siena, Marques de Torrecilla.
262. Christ taken by the Soldiers, Toledo Cathedral.
263. Christ on the Cross, Prado, Madrid.
264. The Death of St. Joseph, Don A. Beruete, Madrid.
265. The Holy Family, Prado, Madrid.
266. St. Justa and St. Rufina, Seville Cathedral.
267. Apparition of St. Isidore to King
Ferdinand III., Don A. Canovas, Madrid.
268. St. Peter, Don A. Pidal, Madrid.
269. The Prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane,
The Rector of San Antonio.
270. St. Elizabeth of Hungary healing
Lepers, Don Clemente Velasco.
271. St. Hermenegild in Prison, Don Clemente Velasco.
272. Angels and Cherubim, Conde de Villagonzalo.
273. Fresco of the Cupola of San Antonio }
de la Florida, 1st Section, }
274. Fresco of the Cupola of San Antonio }
de la Florida, 2nd Section, } The Church of San
275. Fresco of the Cupola of San Antonio } Antonio de la
de la Florida, 3rd Section, } Florida.
276. Fresco of the Cupola of San Antonio }
de la Florida, 4th Section, }
277. Group of Angels from San Antonio }
de la Florida, }
278. Fresco of San Antonio de la }
Florida, }
279. Lunch on the Banks of the Manzanares:
Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
280. Dance at San Antonio de la Florida:
Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
281. The Scuffle at the New Inn:
Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
282. Al Fresco Scene: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
283. The Drinker: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
284. The Parasol: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
285. The Kite: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
286. The Card-Players: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
287. Children with a Bladder: Tapestry
Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
288. Boys picking Fruit: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
289. Blind Man playing the Guitar:
Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
290. The Fair of Madrid: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
291. The Crockery Seller: Tapestry
Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
292. The Soldier and }
the Girl: } Tapestry Cartoons, Prado, Madrid.
La Acerolera: }
293. Playing at Soldiers: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
294. The Game of Pelota: Tapestry
Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
295. The Washerwomen: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
296. La Novillada: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
297. The Tobacco Guard: Tapestry
Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
298. Children climbing }
a Tree: }
The Hunter and }
his Dogs: } Tapestry Cartoons, Prado, Madrid.
The Child and }
the Bird: }
299. The Woodcutters: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
300. The Rendezvous: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
301. The Gardener: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
302. The Vintagers: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
303. Poor Woman at the Fountain:
Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
304. Winter: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
305. The Wedding: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
306. Women at the Fountain: Tapestry
Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
307. The Swing: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
308. The Stilt-Walkers: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
309. Boys climbing a Tree: Tapestry
Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
310. Boy on a Sheep: Tapestry Cartoon, Prado, Madrid.
CAPRICES.
PLATE SUBJECT
311. 1. Francisco Goya y Lucientes, Painter.
312. 2. So it is settled.
313. 3. Here comes the Bogey!
314. 4. The Old Spoilt Child.
315. 5. Birds of a Feather.
316. 6. Appearances are Deceptive.
317. 7. Not thus can he distinguish her.
318. 8. Kidnapped.
319. 9. Tantalus.
320. 10. Love and Death.
321. 11. Andalusian Brigands. Boys, to Work!
322. 12. Tooth-hunting.
323. 13. Scalding Hot!
324. 14. What a Sacrifice!
325. 15. Good Counsel.
326. 16. ‘May God pardon her!’
327. 17. Bien tirada está.
328. 18. ‘And his House is burning!’
329. 19. ‘All will fall.’
330. 20. They are already plucked.
331. 21. How they pluck her.
332. 22. Poor Little Things!
333. 23. Carry this Dust away.
334. 24. No Remedy.
335. 25. Because he broke the Pitcher.
336. 26. Now they have a Seat.
337. 27. Which is the more bored?
338. 28. Hush!
339. 29. This is what he calls Reading.
340. 30. Why hide them?
341. 31. She prays for her.
342. 32. For Over-sensibility.
343. 33. ‘To the Count Palatine.’
344. 34. Sleep conquers them.
345. 35. They shave him.
346. 36. A Bad Night.
347. 37. Will the Pupil know more than the Master?
348. 38. Bravissimo!
349. 39. As far as his Grandfather.
350. 40. Of what Ill will he die?
351. 41. Neither more nor less.
352. 42. Thou who canst not.
353. 43. The Sleep of Reason produces Monsters.
354. 44. They spin Linen.
355. 45. There is a lot to do.
356. 46. Doing Penance.
357. 47. Homage to the Master.
358. 48. The Blowers.
359. 49. Little Ghosts.
360. 50. The Chinchillas.
361. 51. They cut each others’ Nails.
362. 52. What a Tailor can do.
363. 53. ‘What an Orator!’
364. 54. The Shameful One.
365. 55. Till Death.
366. 56. Ascending and Descending.
367. 57. The Pedigree.
368. 58. Swallow that, you Dog!
369. 59. And yet they do not go.
370. 60. Trials.
371. 61. Up above the World so high!
372. 62. Who would believe it?
373. 63. How grave they are!
374. 64. Bon Voyage.
375. 65. Where is Mamma going?
376. 66. Changing Lodgings.
377. 67. Wait till you have been anointed.
378. 68. Pretty Mistress.
379. 69. Fanning the Brazier.
380. 70. Devout Professions.
381. 71. The Day breaks, let us go.
382. 72. You will not escape.
383. 73. It is better to do nothing.
384. 74. Don’t shout, Idiot.
385. 75. Will no one set us free?
386. 76. The Habit of Command.
387. 77. A Mimic Bull-Fight.
388. 78. Be quick, they waken.
389. 79. No one has seen us.
390. 80. Time’s Up!
DISASTERS OF WAR.
391. 1. Sad Presentiments.
392. 2. With or without Reason.
393. 3. All the Same.
394. 4. Women inspire Courage.
395. 5. And are like Wild Beasts.
396. 6. Well deserved!
397. 7. Courage!
398. 8. What always happens.
399. 9. They will not!
400. 10. Nor they.
401. 11. Nor for these!
402. 12. Were you born for this?
403. 13. A Bitter Sight.
404. 14. Hard is the Way.
405. 15. And there was no Remedy.
406. 16. They avail themselves.
407. 17. An argument.
408. 18. To bury and to be silent.
409. 19. There is not Time.
410. 20. To heal each other.
411. 21. It will be the Same.
412. 22. As much and more.
413. 23. The same elsewhere.
414. 24. They are still of use.
415. 25. And these also.
416. 26. That cannot be seen.
417. 27. Charity.
418. 28. The Populace.
419. 29. He deserved it.
420. 30. The Tragedy of War.
421. 31. Strong Measures.
422. 32. Why?
423. 33. What more is there to do?
424. 34. For a Knife.
425. 35. No one knows why.
426. 36. Nor wherefore.
427. 37. This is worse.
428. 38. Barbarians.
429. 39. A Great Feat with the Dead.
430. 40. He turns it to Account.
431. 41. They escape through the Flames.
432. 42. All is in Confusion.
433. 43. Here also.
434. 44. ‘I saw it.’
435. 45. And this, likewise.
436. 46. This is bad.
437. 47. Thus it happened.
438. 48. Cruel Misfortune!
439. 49. A Woman’s Charity.
440. 50. Unhappy Mother.
441. 51. Thanks to the Blue Millet.
442. 52. They arrive too late.
443. 53. He died without Help.
444. 54. Vain Clamours.
445. 55. To beg is worst of all.
446. 56. To the Cemetery.
447. 57. The Healthy and the Sick.
448. 58. Of no Use to cry.
449. 59. Of what Use is a Cup?
450. 60. No one to help.
451. 61. Are they of another Race?
452. 62. Death-beds.
453. 63. Collecting Dead.
454. 64. Cartloads for the Cemetery.
455. 65. ‘What means this Tumult?’
456. 66. Strange Devotion.
457. 67. This is not less so.
458. 68. What Folly!
459. 69. Nothing; he says it himself.
460. 70. They do not know the Way.
461. 71. Against the General Good.
462. 72. The Consequences.
463. 73. The Cat’s Pantomime.
464. 74. This is worse.
465. 75. A Meeting of Quacks.
466. 76. The Carnivorous Vulture.
467. 77. May the Rope break.
468. 78. He defends himself well.
469. 79. Truly she died.
470. 80. Should she revive!
TAUROMACHIA
PLATE SUBJECT
471. 1. Hunting Bulls across Country in the Olden Time.
472. 2. Hunting the Bull on Foot.
473. 3. Moors hunting the Bull across Country.
474. 4. Moors fighting the Bull in an Enclosure.
475. 5. The Moor Gazul fighting the Bull.
476. 6. Moors irritating the Bull.
477. 7. Origin of the Banderilla.
478. 8. Moor attacked by a Bull.
479. 9. Spaniard, wearing a Turban, slaying a Bull.
480. 10. Charles V. spearing a Bull in the Arena of
Valladolid.
481. 11. The Cid spearing a Bull.
482. 12. Mob attacking a Bull.
483. 13. Horsemen planting Banderillas in the Bull.
484. 14. The Student of Falces and the Bull.
485. 15. The famous Martincho planting Banderillas.
486. 16. Martincho’s Feat.
487. 17. Moors using Donkeys as a rampart against Bulls.
488. 18. Martincho in the Arena at Zaragoza.
489. 19. Martincho’s Feat at Zaragoza.
490. 20. Juanito Apiñani in the Arena at Madrid.
491. 21. Spectators slain by the Bull at Madrid.
492. 22. The Female Picador, Pajuelera, at Zaragoza.
493. 23. Mariano Ceballos, _alias_ el Indio, in the Arena.
494. 24. Ceballos mounted on a Bull in the Arena at Madrid.
495. 25. Bull-Baiting by Dogs.
496. 26. Picador overthrown by the Bull.
497. 27. Fernando del Toro in the Arena.
498. 28. Rendon in the Arena at Madrid.
499. 29. Pepe-Illo faces the Bull.
500. 30. Pedro Romero in the Arena.
501. 31. Flaming Banderillas.
502. 32. Bull overthrowing Picador.
503. 33. Death of Pepe-Illo in the Arena at Madrid.
504. 34. Picadors mounted on Mules harnessed to a
Carriage.
505. 35. Bull carrying a Wounded Toreador on his Horns.
506. 36. Bull carrying a Dead Toreador on his Horns.
507. 37. Variation of No. 25. Bull-baiting.
508. 38. A Spanish Gentleman in the Ring.
509. 39. Bravo Toro!
510. 40. Nearing the End.
PROVERBS
511. 1. Women tossing a Dead Donkey and Mannikins in
a Blanket.
512. 2. Soldiers flying from a Tree draped to represent a
Ghost.
513. 3. Persons listening to an Orator.
514. 4. Peasant dancing before a Man and Woman.
515. 5. Man carrying off a Woman on a Winged Monster.
516. 6. The Infuriated Man.
517. 7. Man and Woman joined together at the Shoulders.
518. 8. Persons dressed in Sacks.
519. 9. Fantastic Personage offering Kittens to two
Women.
520. 10. Human Beings maltreated by a wild Horse.
521. 11. A Two-headed Woman pursued by two Men.
522. 12. Majos and Majas dancing.
523. 13. Men attempting to fly.
524. 14. Fantastic Salutations.
525. 15. A Monk preaches; Soldier throws himself down
an Abyss.
526. 16. Man and Woman quarrelling.
527. 17. Persons deriding a Blind Man.
528. 18. The Old Man and the Corpse.
EXAMPLES IN THE COLLECTION OF
SEÑOR A. DE BERUETE
PLATE SUBJECT GALLERY
529. The Promenade, Don A. de Beruete.
530. A Pauper, Don A. de Beruete.
531. The Madman, Don A. de Beruete.
532. The Miser, Don A. de Beruete.
533. A Woman flying, Don A. de Beruete.
534. Madmen, Don A. de Beruete.
535. The Maja and the Cloaked Man, Don A. de Beruete.
536. A Monk suspended in the Air, Don A. de Beruete.
537. The Living Skeleton, Don A. de Beruete.
538. French Chastisement, Don A. de Beruete.
539. To have and to hold, Don A. de Beruete.
540. The Snake-Charmer, Don A. de Beruete.
541. Charity, Don A. de Beruete.
542. Who will win? Don A. de Beruete.
543. The Madman, Don A. de Beruete.
544. The Lady with the Puppies, Don A. de Beruete.
545. Paupers, Don A. de Beruete.
546. Procession entering the Temple, Don A. de Beruete.
547. Women praying, Don A. de Beruete.
548. Mid-Lent, Don A. de Beruete.
549. Brides of the Church, Don A. de Beruete.
550. Melodious Mediators, Don A. de Beruete.
551. A Sleeping Maja, Don A. de Beruete.
552. The Skaters, Don A. de Beruete.
553. Study for the Young Infante in ‘The
Family of King Charles IV.,’ Don A. de Beruete.
554. Study for the Portrait of the Queen
in ‘The Family of King Charles
IV.,’ Don A. de Beruete.
555. Sleeping Giant, Don A. de Beruete.
556. A Gentle Episode, Don A. de Beruete.
557. A Prisoner, Don A. de Beruete.
558. The Happy Man, Don A. de Beruete.
559. Under a Hood, Don A. de Beruete.
560. Fairy Tales, Don A. de Beruete.
561. Spanish Beauty, Don A. de Beruete.
562. Haut-ton, Don A. de Beruete.
563. The Man with the Crocodile, Don A. de Beruete.
564. At last it breaks, Don A. de Beruete.
565. The Broken Pitcher, Don A. de Beruete.
566. Woman with a Child in Arms, Don A. de Beruete.
567. Rural Events, Don A. de Beruete.
568. Chastisement, Don A. de Beruete.
569. A Monk doing Penance, Don A. de Beruete.
570. The Invalid, Don A. de Beruete.
571. Mirar lo que no ven, Don A. de Beruete.
572. An Idiot, Don A. de Beruete.
573. Invocation, Don A. de Beruete.
574. Prayer, Don A. de Beruete.
575. A Mad Newswoman, Don A. de Beruete.
576. A Monk, Don A. de Beruete.
577. The Bride, Don A. de Beruete.
578. The Belle of the Assembly, Don A. de Beruete.
579. One more Unfortunate, Don A. de Beruete.
580. A Portrait, Don A. de Beruete.
FRESCOES IN THE CHURCH OF SAN
ANTONIO DE LA FLORIDA
581. Interior of the Church of San Antonio
de la Florida,
582. San Antonio de la Florida, Painting in the Principal
Chapel.
583. San Antonio de la Florida, Paintings on the Centres of
the Intrados of the Choir
and Principal Chapel
Arches.
584, 585. San Antonio de la Florida, Paintings on the Springings
of the Intrados of the
Principal Chapel Arches.
586, 587. San Antonio de la Florida, Paintings on the Springings
of the Intrados of the
Choir Arches.
588. San Antonio de la Florida, Paintings on the Intrados
of the left Side Chapel
Arch.
589. San Antonio de la Florida, Paintings on the Intrados
of the right Side Chapel
Arch.
590. San Antonio de la Florida, Triangles formed by the
Dome adjoining the Principal
Chapel.
591. San Antonio de la Florida, Triangles formed by the
Dome adjoining the Choir.
592, 593. San Antonio de la Florida, Paintings at the Sides of the
Window on the left.
594, 595. San Antonio de la Florida, Paintings at the Sides of the
Window on the right.
596. San Antonio de la Florida, First Group on the Cupola
to the left of the Centre.
597. San Antonio de la Florida, Second Group on the Cupola
to the left of the Centre.
598. San Antonio de la Florida, Centre of the Composition
on the Cupola facing the
Entrance.
599. San Antonio de la Florida, First Group on the Cupola
to the right of the Centre.
600. San Antonio de la Florida, Second Group on the Cupola
to the right of the Centre.
DRAWINGS, ETC.
601. The Duke of Wellington, 1812, From the Original Drawing
in the Print Room of the
British Museum.
602. Lady and Gentleman on Horseback. From the Original Drawing
in the Print Room of the
British Museum.
603. Head of the Dying Fray Juan From the Original Drawing
Fernanez. in the Print Room of the
British Museum.
604. A Criminal undergoing the infliction From the Original Drawing
of the Garotte. in the Print Room of the
British Museum.
605. A Lost Soul, From the Original Drawing
in the Print Room of the
British Museum.
606. Condemned Criminals conducted to From the Original Drawing
Execution. in the Print Room of the
British Museum.
607. Spanish Proverb Illustrated, From an Etching, hitherto
unpublished, in the Print
Room of the British
Museum.
608. Spanish Proverb Illustrated, From an Etching, hitherto
unpublished, in the Print
Room of the British
Museum.
609. Spanish Proverb Illustrated, From an Etching, hitherto
unpublished, in the
British Museum.
610. The Bulls: A Study of the Animals From an Etching, hitherto
in various positions. unpublished, in the
British Museum.
611. Bull-fighter fettered in the Arena, From an Etching, hitherto
unpublished, in the
British Museum.
612. A Blind Guitar-Player tossed by a From an Etching in the
Bull, Print Room of the British
Museum.
GOYA
I
A century before the birth of Goya, Spanish painting had attained its
crown of achievement in the work of the four great naturalists,
Velazquez, Ribera, Zurbarán, and Murillo. Josef de Ribera (‘Lo
Spagnoletto’), had succeeded Ribalta, and had given lasting expression
to the realism which characterised Spanish art in the seventeenth
century; Francisco de Zurbarán, the Estremaduran peasant, whom Lord
Leighton called ‘All Spain,’ carried on the tradition of the elder
Herrera in his passion for truth in detail and in the dramatic intensity
of his expression; Murillo, the disciple of the Spanish Catholic Church,
bewitched his generation with what Antonio Castillo y Saavedra described
as his ‘wondrous grace and beauty of colouring’; and Velazquez, ‘our
Velazquez,’ as Palomino proudly styled him, was the supreme painter
through whom Spanish art became the light of a new artistic life.
Of Velazquez it has been said that he attained perfection in the realism
of detail and in the realism of sight, and in his commanding genius
Spanish art was emancipated from the fetters of pseudo-Italianism in
which it had laboured so long. He carried Spanish realism to its Ultima
Thule. Further his age could not go, and generations of artists who came
after him devoted themselves to the imitation and reproduction of his
colour and his technique with such passionate servility that in the end
the copy of the pupil was frequently mistaken for the work of the
master. The perfect technique of the great Court painter had, in his own
day, the effect of arresting artistic development--it left his
successors nothing to solve for themselves. He achieved so much in his
own work that, for a time, the last word in art seemed to have been
spoken. Until his influence had died away, the reproduction of Velazquez
was the aim of the Madrid painters. For this reason, after the death of
Velazquez, the artistic life of the seventeenth century became a spent
force, and for want of new impetus of original genius, Spanish art
steadily declined. The followers of the supreme painter failed to
realise the true inwardness of his message. They had the seed, but they
could raise no new flower. One feels towards the pictures of Velazquez
as Swinburne felt towards the muse of Sappho:
’ ... earth’s womb has borne in vain
New things, and never this best thing again;
Borne days and men, borne fruits and wars and wine,
Seasons and songs but no song more like mine.’
But the reverent desire to perpetuate ‘this best thing’ could not arrest
the decay of artistic inspiration. The disciples of Velazquez copied and
painted successfully (up to a point), and they trained other generations
of imitators who continued to work and teach their methods, until
imitation slowly but surely sank into artistic degradation. Under the
sway of Mariana of Austria, the decay of Spanish painting was further
hastened, and the ascendency of the facile, brilliant brush of Luca
Giordano, under Charles II., dealt the death-blow to the realistic
impulse that had carried the national school of the middle seventeenth
century to the realisation of its utmost ambition.
The decadence which followed the death of Velazquez was most pronounced
among the Castilian painters, but the empire of Giordano extended to the
Provincial schools and completed the more gradual decline of art in
Andalusia and Valencia. Seville was foredoomed to decadence as a school
of painting, for its artists had taken Murillo as their model, and in
servilely imitating the ‘Painter of the Conceptions,’ they emphasised
his faults, exaggerated his unreality, and caricatured his affectations.
The popular admiration of Murillo was all-powerful to hasten the general
decline, and each year the artistic outgrowth of Andalusia became more
enfeebled.
In the last months of the seventeenth century Charles II. died without
issue and the art-loving Austrian dynasty was ended. The succeeding
Bourbon sovereigns brought with them an art derived from France; they
had no ambition to reanimate the native art of the country. Madrid
became the only recognised art centre in Spain, and to Madrid, in 1761,
came, at the invitation of Charles III., Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, the
Venetian fresco-painter, and the Saxon pedant, Anton Raphael Mengs. The
Spanish painters who had rendered homage to the facile Giordano were
caught by the glamour of the fantastic, insincere art of Tiepolo, while
the dreary academic influence of Mengs--whose paintings are declared by
Carl Justi to echo the last shadow of eclectic mannerism--made for all
that is dull, exact, and lifeless in pictorial art. No great Spaniard
arose to counteract the demoralising influence of these imported
professors; it was realised in the studios of Madrid that the methods of
the favoured aliens led to popularity and fortune; the Spanish artists
followed the line of least resistance, nor desisted when they found that
it carried them ever further from the tradition founded by Velazquez.
This art, dull but without dignity, showy but meaningless, was the
reflex of the prevailing rottenness in the national life. During the
reign of Charles III. a certain superficial decency was observed; the
corruptness of Court life was kept out of sight; a general conspiracy of
make-believe was maintained. But under Maria Luisa of Parma and Charles
IV., the abomination of moral desolation in social, political and
artistic life was complete and confessed. Manuel Godoy, afterwards
Prince de la Paz, was Prime Minister of Spain, and the country was
demoralised by dissolute courtiers and unscrupulous ministers, and
drained by insatiable priests. But in the turmoil created by an
aristocracy sunk in lasciviousness, a government steeped in corruption,
and a commonalty beaten and bled into a state of nerveless resignation,
was heard the echo of the revolutionary movement which was sweeping over
Europe. The teaching of Goethe and Schiller, followed by the preaching
of Rousseau, had taken concrete form in the butcheries of Robespierre
and Danton; the movement had culminated in the personal supremacy of
Napoleon Buonaparte.
The hopes of the Spanish nation were centred in the Crown Prince
Ferdinand. Even as the First of the Tigers thought to exterminate Fear
by killing a man, the Spaniards believed that the abdication of Charles
IV. would make an end of misrule and give their country peace and
prosperity. But the King hated his son, and inspired by the double
purpose of defeating the ambition of the Crown Prince and punishing the
disloyalty of his subjects, he laid his crown at the feet of the Emperor
of the French, who bestowed it upon his brother, Joseph Buonaparte. The
Spanish liberals made the alien king welcome, but the Spanish loyalists
proved a constant thorn in the side of the usurper, and at the end of
five years Joseph Buonaparte fled Madrid. Two years later the Prince of
the Asturias returned to Spain to be crowned king as Ferdinand VII.
Again the distressful country was plunged into the depths of
retrogression, clericalism, and fanaticism. Spain was undergoing her
fate.
The strong men of the troublous times of the eighteenth century were the
revolutionaries and reformers, and, as was inevitable, they sprang from
the people. Rousseau, Robespierre, Napoleon, these were the forces that
directed the movement, the effect of which was to make itself felt from
one end of Europe to the other. Goya was a revolutionary. He lived under
four kings of Spain. He was elected a member of the Académia de San
Fernando in the reign of Charles III.; Charles IV. appointed him _Pintor
de Cámara del Rey_; he took the oath of allegiance to Joseph Buonaparte
and painted the usurper’s portrait; Ferdinand VII., who declared that he
had deserved death for his defection from the Bourbon cause, condemned
the man but pardoned the artist and received him as a member of the new
Court. Critical opinion condones Goya’s flexible patriotism by the fact
that ‘it was a period of national disaster,’ and that ‘national calamity
was not altered by these trivialities.’
Goya, we are reminded, was a revolutionary; he was also a pitiless, if
quizzical, onlooker at the life of the Madrid Court. It was a simple
matter to him to transfer his allegiance from the Bourbons to Joseph
Buonaparte, and it was even more simple to welcome Ferdinand VII. to the
throne. ‘What did such changes matter in years of irretrievable ruin?’
writes C. Gasquoine Hartley, in _A Record of Spanish Painting_. The
question may be left for the individual to answer according to his own
fancy. And if Goya was, as some will find, an opportunist, a political
weathercock, and a moral Vicar of Bray, as an artist he was a great
reformative force. Alternately an idealist and a realist, he fought with
all the social forces and against the academic standards of the school
commanded by David and Mengs, destroying the debased conventions of
painting and freeing the brush from the domination of a clique. A
national artist _par excellence_, he gave lasting form to the
sentiments, customs and conditions of his country. A profound believer
in empiricism, a great humourist, sometimes impetuous and fantastic, at
other times holding fast to reality; a master of portraiture; fantastic,
inspired, spontaneous in his aquafortis etchings; he seized upon and
immortalised every aspect of the gruesome tragi-comedy which was played
in Spain in the last years of the eighteenth century.
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was born at the end of March (the
30th or 31st) 1746 at Fuentetodos near Zaragoza, in Aragon, the province
which gave to the nation poets like the ‘Spanish Horaces,’ historians
like Zurita, teachers like Gracián and Luzán, a scholar like Latassa,
and a statesman like the Conde de Aranda. Goya was baptized in the
Church of Our Lady of the Ascent, and the names given him by his
godmother, Francesca de Grasa, were Francis Joseph. The amiable weakness
for connecting great men with great families has prompted a German
biographer to claim that both his father and mother belonged to the
nobility, and that his first patron was the Duque de Fuentes. Less
imaginative authorities, however, tell us that his parents, José Goya
and Gracia Lucientes, were poor but hardworking peasants, and that when
‘the regenerator of the Spanish school of naturalistic painters’--to
quote the prefatory note to Goya’s pictures in the Prado catalogue--had
completed his course of elementary instruction at the hands of the
village schoolmaster, he was put to agriculture. A fortunate accident
revealed the bent of the lad’s genius and liberated him, at the age of
fourteen, from the drudgery of manual labour.
M. Matheron relates that the lad had been sent with a sack of wheat to a
neighbouring mill, when a monk of Zaragoza (probably Father Felix
Salvador of the Carthusian convent of Aula Dei) happened upon him. Goya,
seated on his burden, was intent upon drawing a pig with a piece of
charcoal upon a whitewashed wall. The priest, struck by the correct free
lines traced by the youngster, inquired who his master was and received
the characteristic reply: ‘I have none, your reverence. It is not my
fault, I cannot keep from drawing.’ The overmastering incentive pleaded
by the youthful delinquent never forsook him, and, although powerful
enemies resented his too free use of the pencil, and the Holy
Inquisition was moved to curb his unwearied industry, he continued to
ply brush and needle and gavel during sixty-eight years of changing,
strenuous life. Father Salvador remained Goya’s friend until his death.
He saw his father, and obtained permission from him, in 1760, for the
lad to go to Zaragoza. The imperial city exercised a powerful influence
upon his art. There is always in his pictures, as one of his countrymen
points out, the Zaragoza landscape, so rich in the contrasts of its
splendid and vigorous vegetation, recalling the banks of the Genil or
the Turia, while its limy hills and grey plains bring to the memory the
vistas of Castile. The melancholy of the sky--pierced by the severe
lines of innumerable towers and bounded by the austere distant
rock--remind us that here the sun has not the same suggested warmth that
supplied the rays for Murillo’s brush; that this is not the land of
fancy but the land of genius, cold as the snow of the Moncayo, that adds
beauty to the beautiful plants which produce not sweet odours but
healing balsams.
Thanks to the friendly offices of Father Salvador, Goya was admitted to
the studio of José Luzán y Martinez, whose religious and historical
pictures bear evidence of soft fresh colouring. He attended, too, the
school founded in 1714 by the sculptor Juan Ramirez, a pupil of the
well-intentioned Gregoria de Mesa. In the studio of Martinez, Goya, who
from the first betrayed his lifelong passion for realism, worked with
untiring ardour, stimulated, it may be, by the industry of his
co-pupils, José Beratón, Tómas Vallespin, and the Huesca jeweller,
Antonio Martinez, who founded, in Madrid, the silversmith’s business
which still bears his name. ‘In the schools of Zaragoza,’ says C.
Gasquoine Hartley, ‘he followed no conventional standards, and his
continuous study was directed to the development of his exuberant
individuality. To comprehend the truth, and afterwards to depict it, as
it pleased his ever-varying fancy, this was his great aim. His utterance
was inevitable and instinctive, the overflow of his dramatic,
inexhaustible and vivid imagination.’
Goya’s exuberant, passionate temperament betrayed itself in other
directions outside his art. He lived, as he worked, in a condition of
unconventional, even arrogant independence. Many tales of the wild
escapades of his youth are told. His revolutionary tendencies embroiled
him in frequent altercations; thrice he is said to have fallen under the
ban of the Inquisition. Zaragoza finally grew unsafe for him, and in
1766 he fled to Madrid. There are no discovered documents relating to
his first years in Madrid, and his biographers, for the most part,
preserve a discreet reticence concerning his mode of life in the
capital. It is supposed that he copied Velazquez, and the pictures at
the Casa de Campo, the seat of the Duque de Arcos. It has even been
surmised that, through his friendship with Bayeu, he had the entrée to
the royal palaces of La Zarzuela, Aranjuez, and the Escorial. Other
writers favour the idea that he lived the life of a young revolutionary,
and Richard Muther, in his monograph of the painter, pictures him ‘wild
and passionate, an athlete in his physical strength,’ being ‘everywhere
present when dancing or love-making, scuffling or stabbing, is going
forward.’ The one outstanding fact, upon which most biographers are
agreed, is that one morning he was found lying in the streets with a
dagger in his back. This occurrence, supplemented, it is said, by his
misfortune in again incurring the displeasure of the Inquisition--some
hold that he was placed under police supervision--made him once more
seek safety in flight. He had a will to visit Rome, but no money to
defray his travelling expenses. Tradition declares that he joined
himself to a company of bull-fighters, worked his way to the coast as a
picador, and set sail for Italy.