The Spanish series

Goya, an account of his life and works

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 Goyas 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 booksMr. W. Rothensteins Goya, now out of print, and a monograph by Mr. Richard Muther in the Langham Seriesare 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 Zurbarn, 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 repre{viii}sentation 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. Goyas 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. ......Buy Now (To Read More)

Product details

Ebook Number: 64514
Author: Calvert, Albert Frederick
Release Date: Feb 10, 2021
Format: eBook
Language: English