Francisco Goya was a Spanish painter of the early Romantic period (1746–1828). He was the painter for the royal Spanish court, before the French invasion of Spain. He often took commissions from the Spanish nobility to paint their portraits. Two examples of his work for the Spanish nobility are a portrait of "Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga" (c. 1790), the son of the Count and Countess of Altamira, and a painting of "Family of Charles IV" (c. 1800). These two paintings are very different, yet they are both convey similar ideas.
The portrait of "Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga" shows a young boy in bright red clothing, standing in front of a gray wall. Next to him are three cats to his right and a cage with birds to his left. He is holding a magpie on a leash, at which three cats stare hungrily. The magpie is holding Goya’s calling card in its beak. In Christian symbolism, birds represent souls, therefore the birds in the cage in this painting represent trapped or caged souls (http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works-of-art/49.7.41). The boy looks very pale, and because of this, he does not appear to be really Spanish. The white background highlights the boy’s head, which makes it the focal point of the painting. His red clothes pop out to the eye as well, because of the sharp contrast to the subdued colors of the rest of the painting. The cats appear as a dangerous element, with their concentrated staring at the magpie. The magpie cannot fly away, since it is not free. The mood of the painting is one of depression and unease, due to the lack of much color in the painting.
The painting "Family of Charles IV" depicts Charles IV, the king of Spain, and his immediate family. Charles IV is to the right of the center of the painting and the queen is in the center. This may indicate that the queen is the power behind the throne. She is holding her grandson’s hand, who is dressed in a red outfit. One of the women is shown with her head turned, another woman is depicted as looking towards the ceiling, and a third woman, holding a child, appears to have lost focus. Many of the people depicted in the painting seem bored, and do not act like nobility. They do not seem to project great intelligence. The background shows several large paintings hanging up on a wall. This painting shows a variety of color. The males wear blue and white sashes of their coats. Their clothing is bright, even the king’s black suit. The women are dressed in golden gowns. The light source appears to come from the left shining towards the right. The shadow in the painting appears diagonally, and the line it forms continues through a line in the queen’s dress and the line on the floor, creating a right triangle on the bottom left side of the painting. Goya places himself in this painting within the shadows.
"Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga" and "Family of Charles IV" are two very different pieces, that have certain similarities. In both paintings, Goya paints the young boys in red outfits with a ruffled neckline and a belt that seems to be made of silk. This seems to be the formal clothing of young aristocratic boys in Spain during this time. The paintings were painted around a decade apart from each other, but the boys are still wearing the same fashions. This shows the viewer the conservative mind set of the aristocracy in Spain.
Goya inserts himself in both pictures, while trying to maintain separateness. In "Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga", his insertion is hidden, or symbolic, as the tethered magpie holding his calling card. The magpie represents Goya and his feelings as an artist. While the other birds, or artists, are in the cage, he has been let out but is still not entirely free. The magpie is also shown with its head bowing down to the boy. As an artist, he may feel imprisoned or trapped because he has to paint what he is told to paint by the aristocracy in order to have a livelihood. In "Family of Charles IV", Goya paints himself as the only serious figure in the painting. This can portray his feelings towards the Spanish royal family. They seem to be neither serious nor bright people. His insertion into the painting is from a political view. In this painting, it is as if he is mocking the Spanish royal family. His placement in the shadows shows that he is separate from the group. The paintings show Goya’s intellectual progression, from thinking as an individual to being concerned about his country’s political state.
By: Abby Strick
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