CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/10/2014

Goya: Order & Disorder

The last of the old masters, the first of the moderns; Goya's works in all media are gathered in this opulent volume, published on the occasion of the largest North American Goya show in more than 25 years—on view at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston Sunday through January 19. Featured image, "Seated Giant" (by 1818) is discussed in the chapter on power struggles: "The curvature of the earth on which he sits alludes to the cosmic scale of his power, but he turns his back as if resisting his dominion. The moment is the cusp of day, with the crescent moon setting and light breaking at the horizon. He turns, as well, from the light. The giant's form and hunched, melancholic posture have been compared to to representations of titans such as Saturn (Cronus in Greek myth) and Hercules. But, in spite of the figure's strength and bulk and apparent derivation from antique sculpture (the Apollo Belvedere in Goya's Italian Notebook), this is not the idealized form o a go: the treatment of the musculature, hair, and face is naturalistic," Manuella B. Mena Marqués writes, "…its subject and mood suggest Goya's preoccupations after the war; the ambivalent treatment of the giant as powerful yet withdrawn could refer to the defeated Napoleonic empire, the Spanish nation, or the artist himself. Although power is fleeting, this enigmatic giant remains permanently suspended in space and time."