''Portrait of Manuel Godoy'' is a large 1801 oil on canvas painting by the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

artist

Francisco de Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...

, now in the

Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acad ...

. It was commissioned by the Spanish Prime Minister

Manuel Godoy Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, Prince of the Peace, 1st Duke of Alcudia, 1st Duke of Sueca, 1st Baron of Mascalbó (12 May 17674 October 1851) was First Secretary of State of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808. He received many t ...

to commemorate his victory in the brief

War of the Oranges The War of the Oranges ( pt, Guerra das Laranjas; french: Guerre des Oranges; es, Guerra de las Naranjas) was a brief conflict in 1801 in which Spanish forces, instigated by the government of France, and ultimately supported by the French mil ...

against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. The portrait is an incisive psychological characterisation. The subject's self belief is depicted via his unusual reclining posture, the surrounding horses, and the phallic baton situated between his legs. The painting metaphorically places Godoy sitting at the apex of the Spanish government. The artist captures Godoy's arrogance through his posture, and the inclusion of Portuguese flags. The choice of lighting gives intensity to the piece. In 1801 Godoy was the height of his power, having won in the

he was now Generalissimo of "land and sea" and "Prince of Peace"; pompous titles he willingly accepted. He and Goya were friends, Godoy owned two of the artist's portraits of Majas, which he may have commissioned. He was close to and held influence over the

Charles IV of Spain , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles III of Spain , mother =Maria Amalia of Saxony , birth_date =11 November 1748 , birth_place =Palace of Portici, Portici, Naples , death_date = , death_place = ...

's wife,

Maria Luisa of Parma Maria Luisa of Parma (Luisa Maria Teresa Anna; 9 December 1751 – 2 January 1819) was, by marriage to King Charles IV of Spain, Queen of Spain from 1788 to 1808 leading up to the Peninsular War. Her relationship with Manuel Godoy and influence o ...

, and married into the royal family via the Countess of Chinchon, a cousin of the king. Goya had earlier portrayed Godoy in 1794 when he was Duke of Alcudia, with a small

equestrian portrait An equestrian portrait is a portrait that shows the subject on horseback. Equestrian portraits suggest a high-status sitter, who in many cases was a monarch or other member of the nobility, and the portraits can also carry a suggestion of chivalry ...

.Braham, 621 His career ended in disgrace and after the

Spanish War of Independence The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain, ...

, after which he was banished to live in poverty. He died in exile in Paris in 1851. Despite his fall he continued to speak favourably for the artist, and in his memoirs referred to Goya's ''

Caprichos ''Los caprichos'' (''The Caprices)'' is a set of 80 prints in aquatint and etching created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797–1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya's condem ...

'' with extreme favour, as if he himself had seen them published.

References

Sources

* Bozal, Valeriano. ''Francisco Goya, vida y obra''. Madrid, 2005. . * Braham, Allan. "Goya's Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Wellington". ''Burlington Magazine##, Vol. 108, No. 765, December 1966 * Glendinning, Nigel. "The Strange Translation of Goya's Black Paintings". ''The Burlington Magazine'', Volume 117, No. 868, 1975 * Hagen, Rose-Marie & Hagen, Rainer. ''Francisco Goya, 1746–1828''. London:

Taschen Taschen is a luxury art book publisher founded in 1980 by Benedikt Taschen in Cologne, Germany. As of January 2017, Taschen is co-managed by Benedikt and his eldest daughter, Marlene Taschen. History The company began as Taschen Comics, pu ...

, 1999. * Hughes, Robert. ''Goya''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.

External links

* {{Francisco Goya

Godoy Godoy is a French surname coming from the Normandy region in France. It is derived from the Norman-French first name ''Gaudi'' meaning ruler. It is also a Spanish surname. It may refer to: *Adán Godoy (born 1936), Chilean football player *Aníbal ...

1801 paintings

Paintings in the collection of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando Flags in art

See also

References

Sources

External links