Supernatural Themes in the Art of Francisco De Goya. (Volumes I and II) (Spain).

Abstract

Francisco de Goya's depictions of demons, monsters, witches, goblins, and other supernatural beings constitute a major part of his art. Most books and many articles on the Spanish master include some discussion of these works, but there is no detailed study devoted exclusively to them. The present investigation proposes to fill this lacuna by carefully examining the role that these supernatural beings play in many of Goya's series of paintings and etchings. It considers how and why these beings gradually assumed greater importance in his art and shows how they reached their climactic expression in the "Black Paintings" that the aged master created for his villa "La Quinta del Sordo." Chapter I of this study discusses the earliest appearances of the demonic in Goya's art and reveals that his first demonic beings of St. Francis Dorgia at the Deathbed of an Impenitent form an important part of the religious iconography of the Borgia Chapel in Valencia Cathedral. Chapter II traces the development of these creatures' progeny of witches, goblins, and other monsters from the Suenos to Los Caprichos, and Chapter III examines the six witchcraft paintings that the artist created for the Duke and Duchess of Osuna. These two chapters show that in both Los Caprichos and the Osuna witchcraft series Goya used supernatural beings based on characters from Spanish literature and folkloric beliefs to symbolize the superstitions, vices, and irrational social abuses of his age. Chapter IV analyzes the new monsters that appeared in Goya's art during and after the War of Independence and suggests that they were a concrete manifestation of the forces of reaction, oppression, and destruction unleashed by the war and its aftermath. Chapter V presents a detailed examination of the "Black Paintings." The terrifying images of Saturn devouring one of his sons, witches celebrating the Black Mass, flying demons, and ghoulish monks are shown to be Goya's symbolic representations of very real ecclesiastical and political monsters that had subjugated Spaniards for too long. The chapter concludes that these fourteen works are a testimony of the artist's disillusionment and of his hatred and intolerance of injustice.