Goya: Images of Women is the first major exhibition dedicated to an examination
of the representation of women by Francisco Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828), one of Spain's most
celebrated painters and an internationally influential printmaker of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
His imagery of the multifaceted world of women is unmatched by any artist of his time--and perhaps of
any time.
On view in the National Gallery of Art's West Building from 10 March through 2 June 2002, the
exhibition presents 115 paintings, drawings, prints, tapestry cartoons, and tapestries--some of which have
never traveled to the U.S.--that span the artist's career from his arrival at the court of Madrid to his last
years in Bordeaux.
The exhibition is organized by the Fundación Amigos del Museo del Prado, on the occasion of their 20th
anniversary; the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid, where it was on view 30 October 2001 through 9
February 2002; and the National Gallery of Art, Washington. It is supported by an indemnity from the
Federal Council on the Arts and the Humanities.
Encompassing paintings on canvas, drawings, etchings, lithographs, and miniatures on ivory, the works
in the exhibition remind us of the awesome creative vitality of the artist and the generosity of the many
lenders willing to share their treasures with a wider audience, said Earl A. Powell III, director, National
Gallery of Art. We are grateful to the Catherine B. Reynolds Foundation and General Dynamics for
their sponsorship of this exclusive showing of Goya's images of women in the United States.
The Exhibition
The exhibition, organized in seven thematic categories, parallels the chronology of the artist's career.
Drawn primarily from the collections of the Museo Nacional del Prado, the Patrimonio Nacional, Madrid,
and the National Gallery of Art, and drawing as well on major loans from American and European
collections, the works in the exhibition are placed within their historical context and mirror Spanish
society of the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Tapestries and Tapestry Cartoons (1775-1800): New to the court in 1775, the 29-year-old Goya
delivered to the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Bárbara in Madrid his first full-scale designs for
tapestries to decorate the private chambers of the royal palaces of the Pardo and the Escorial. These early
works introduced him to the Crown Prince and Princess Carlos and María Luisa, the future king and
queen of Spain, who would become his most important patrons. Between 1775 and 1792, Goya painted
more than 60 tapestry cartoons, which represent female types and characters popularized in contemporary
plays and popular literature. The exhibition opens with nine tapestry cartoons (oil paintings that measure
the same size of the tapestries to be woven after them) along with six exquisite silk and wool tapestries,
including The Parasol (1777) and The Straw Mannikin (1791-1792).
Aristocratic Patrons and Portraiture (1783-1790): In 1780, as a result of financial constraints
engendered by Spain's war with England, production of tapestries was suspended, and Goya turned to
other work, mainly religious commissions and portraiture. His first known female patron, and the subject
of two portraits in the exhibition, was María Teresa de Vallabriga y Rozas, an Aragonese noblewoman
who married Don Luis, the brother of Charles III. She also provides the focus of the masterful portrait of
The Family of the Infante Don Luis (1784), exhibited here for the first time in the United States. This
was the first of many major portrait commissions that Goya received from the Spanish aristocracy,
including María Josefa de la Soledad, Duchess of Osuna, Countess of Benavente (1785) and Family
of the Duke and Duchess of Osuna (1787-1788).
Gentlemen's Paintings (1780s-c. 1805): Included in the exhibition are Goya's images of reclining or
sleeping women, presumably painted for male patrons. The most famous of these gentlemen's paintings
are the Naked Maja (Maja desnuda) (1797-1800) and the Clothed Maja (Maja vestida) (1800-1805),
which form the centerpieces of the exhibition.
The Caprichos and Related Drawings (1795-1799): The 80 aquatint etchings known as the
Caprichos, published in early 1799 and probably executed over the preceding years, comprise Goya's
best-known series of etchings. His use of the aquatint process marked a decisive breakthrough in the
field of printmaking. These prints of whimsical subjects--in which women are alternatively targets of
satire, sympathy, and admiration--serve, in conjunction with his portraits and genre scenes, as a vehicle to
address gender issues in a changing Spanish society, as well as a means of social commentary on
women's education, marriage, fashion, and prostitution.
Portraits (1795-1816): By the early 1790s Goya had become Madrid's most sought-after portraitist,
painting some of the most powerful women of the day. In addition to the early portraits painted during
his appointment to the court, the exhibition will also present such later paintings as Thérèse-Louise de
Sureda (c. 1803/1804), The Marchioness of Villafranca Painting Her Husband (1804), and Josefa
Castilla Portugal de Garcini y Wanasbrok (1804), a work that exemplifies Goya's style at its most
straightforward, as well as two stunning portraits of the actress Antonia Zárate.
Later Prints and Drawings (1810-1820s): This section of the exhibition will include prints from The
Disasters of War and The Disparates (loosely translated as follies), as well as a selection of Goya's
private drawings. As uncommissioned works, these prints and rawings allowed Goya the freedom to
explore subjects that would have been officially censored.
Genre Scenes Represented on Canvas and in Miniatures (1808-c. 1826): Following an illness in
1792 that left him nearly deaf, Goya began to experiment with a wide variety of themes in
uncommissioned works. These include such genre paintings as The Duchess of Alba and La Beata
(1795) and its companion piece La Beata with Luis de Berganza and María Luisa de la Luz
(1795)--scenes of daily life that Goya chose himself. The exhibition will also include small works Goya
painted on ivory including Monk Talking to an Old Woman (1824-1825) and A Maja and Celestina
(1824-1825).
IMAGE:
Goya
Naked Maja (Maja desnuda), 1797-1800
Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
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