Two Old Men

''Two Old Men'', also known as ''Two Monks'' or ''An Old Man and a Monk'' (Spanish: ''Dos viejos'', ''Dos frailes'', or ''Un viejo y un fraile''), are names given to one of the 14 ''Black Paintings'' painted by Francisco Goya between 1819-23. At the time Goya was in his mid-seventies and was undergoing a great amount of physical and mental stress after two bouts of an unidentified illness. The works were rendered directly onto the interior walls of the house known as Quinta del Sordo ("The House of the Deaf Man"). that he purchased in 1819.

Background

In 1819 Goya purchased a property for c. 60,000 ''Reales'', set on seventeen acres of land south west of Madrid, in close vicinity to the Manzanares River and the Segovia bridge. In his seventy-third year Goya retired to this property in the country. The house was coincidentally known as the Quinta Del Sordo (House of the Deaf man) after its previous owner. In 1819 Goya was struck down by a mysterious disease, possibly a relapse of the affliction that had first afflicted him some twenty five years earlier, though little is known about the nature or treatment of either. This disease left Goya gravely ill and it was only through the medical intervention of a friend of Goya, Dr Arrieta that his life was saved. In thanks for the Doctor's services he painted a portrait of Arrieta and himself, inscribing it with a dedication: “Goya, in gratitude to his friend Arrieta: for the compassion and care with which he saved his life during the acute and dangerous illness he suffered towards the end of the year 1819 in his seventy-third year.”Licht F. (1983) ''Goya: the origins of the modern temper in art.'' New York: Harper and Row, p.160. (see Self-portrait with Dr Arrieta).

The effects of this illness are often cited as the catalyst for the creation of the Black Paintings as it left the artist physically and mentally strained in its wake. There is little primary evidence to explain why the works were created or indeed what they mean, leaving art historians to interpret the works, and in turn to surmise why Goya created them. The Black Paintings were probably never intended to be seen by anyone but the artist. ''Two Old Men'' likely occupied a position on the first floor, opposite '' Judith and Holofernes.''

Description

In this work we see two elderly figures dressed in Friar's habits standing before a black background. The primary figure stands at the centre of the composition dominating the foreground; the man stands slightly hunched with a pensive expression donning his face. His long grey beard is framed by his arms that rest easily on a shepherd's cane. Beside him is a highly caricatured figure whose face appears animalistic or corpse-like. This figure seems to be shouting into the ear of his companion, which may be an allusion to Goya's deafness. This dark figure provides a foreboding presence within the composition seeming to strongly suggest a negative connotation of some sort. Perhaps the animalistic figure provides a commentary on the artist's own fears of madness, a subject he had previously explored in various capacities throughout his artistic career. It is possible that the primary figure may represent Chronos, the god of time, though this seems unlikely when we consider the situation and aspect of the secondary figure. However, if we were to consider this figure as a Memento Mori

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