Spanish Golden Age Painting - Essay Example

"Portraiture is such a calculating art of (mis)representation that no beholder can be completely innocent." (R.Brilliant). Introduction In his essay "How an art Historian Connects Art Objects and information" Brilliant refers to the fact that apart from his memory, the modern art historian is also supported by many art images which, thanks to modern technology, are often of a very high quality. However, when interpreting an image out of its context the historian who has to depend solely on his or her own emotional response, which in itself will already to an extend be influenced by previous experiences of an existing history of reality, art and classifications, will not be able to fully interpret the meaning of the work. In order to interpret a work of art, the art historian should ideally have some biographical information on the artist available, and should also be fully aware of the historical, social, religious and economic circumstances, not only of the artist himself but also of the country in which he lived. (Brilliant, 121-128). From a political point of view the Spanish Golden Age lasted from the mid fifteenth till the late sixteenth centuries, but paradoxically reached a cultural and artistic climax when the country was in a state of political and economic decline, between the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In a time as significant as the Spanish Golden Age from a religious and historical point of view, the surrounding influences of class, gender, and religion, including issues of patronage, are extremely important. In order to understand the circumstances surrounding and influencing the artists discussed, attention will be given to the surrounding historical circumstances, while biographical details will be used to connect the work of art with the surrounding historical factors. At the same time, the unpredictability with which artistic genius reacts to its surrounding circumstances will be respected at all times. Research Question Discuss Power and Control in Spanish Golden Age painting , focussing on the visual image as a representation of the social order in Spain's Golden Age (15th-17th centuries) and the influence on the Catholic Counter Reformation in Spain. An overview will be given of the historic and religious circumstances surrounding the following Spanish artists from the golden age: Sofonisba Anguissola (1532- 1625) El Greco (born as Domenikos Theotokopolos (1541-1614), Francisco de Zurbaran, (1598-1664) and Diego Velsquez (1599-1660). The study also intends to show how these historical and religious factors have influenced each individual artist and his or her work, depending on his or her class or race. The works that will be discussed are a self portrait by Anguissola, a self-portrait of the Zurbaran as "St Luke Painting the Crucifixion", a portrait by El Greco of "The Great Inquisitor Don Fernando Nino de Guevara" and Velsquez's famous "Portrait of "Pope Innocent X" and "Las Meninas." In the case of the female Anguissola it will be shown how her class as a noble woman and her piety in a Spain after Isabella, when the Virgin cult was flourishing, helped her to be recognized in court circles at a time when female artists were almost non-existent, and on the other hand, how she was restricted by her gender. In the case of El Greco the fact that he was a foreigner in Toledo at a time when the Counter Reformation was combined with a xenophobic hatred for Jews and Muslims, his rejection by King Phillip II and his patronage by clerics with whom he was surrounded had an influence on a creativity which nevertheless remained enigmatic. In the case of Francisco de Zurbaran the influence of his religious patrons on his work and life are more obvious: combining naturalism with religious sensibility, " conforming to the guidelines, for counter reformation artists outlined by the Council of Trent." (Mans, 1) History of Spain Spain under Ferdinand and Isabella One of the most significant factors of the history of Spain is the fact that it was invaded by the Moors in the 8th century, after which there were many wars to have it regained. Politically the Spanish Golden Age lasted between the time when the country was regained from the Moors under Ferdinand and Isabella up to one century later, when Columbus discovered the Americans and started conquering the New World. In 1588 Spain was defeated at Armada, marking the beginning of political decline (Smith 14, 15). The aim of the marriage between Isabella and Ferdinand was to unite Castile and Aragon, while in reality these two areas were never integrated. While the Spanish territory expanded rapidly through wars and conquests, Christianity was the only uniting factor internally, and for this reason Spain had to be turned into a strong Christian country. The inquisition that started in the fourteenth century, concentrating on Muslims and Jews, were extended to heretics and reformists. Information was obtained through torture. Due to Isabella's popularity and piety, there was under her reign a revival of a virgin cult, which resulted in a matriarchal society and unprecedented rights for women (Smith 108). While the golden age of visual arts would come only later, it already started to flourish in these times under the patronage of the church and the court. Architecture combined Islamic, Gothic and Renaissance elements and a literary revival displayed elements of romance and sentiment. Spain under Charles V When Ferdinand died in 1516, Spain was taken over by Charles of Ghent, who also inherited the Hapsburg domains in 15 19 and became Holy Roman Emperor under the name of Charles V (Library of Congress Country Study, p.1) The territory of Spain was extended to Europe, the New World and Algiers in Africa. Spain exhausted itself in the process. While before Armada the defeat at (1588) Spain tried to defeat and influence Europe, after Armada the process was reversed by the Bourbons who tried to make Spain more European. They tried to reform and reorganize the country: a process which was taken over by the Spanish King surrounded by Flemish advisers who were not appreciated in Spain (Smith, p16). Decline under Phillip II When Charles V abdicated in 1556, Phillip II inherited Spain, Italy and the Netherlands. He was also King of England while married to Mary Tudor. In 1580 he inherited Portugal from his mother (Library of Congress Country Study, 2).Charles differed from his father as far as his love for Spain and the Spanish language are concerned, and administered his whole domain from his palace outside Madrid. While Spain was Europe's strongest military power and admired for its culture in these times, it defeated the Turks at Malta in 1565, and at Lapanto in 1572, but was prevented from invading England by the defeat of the Grand Armada in 1588. Spain ultimately became the victim of its own power. The wars did not stimulate production on a domestic level, and what the country gained from American mines were not enough to maintain the forces on foreign soil, which led to an increase in taxes all over Europe. (Library of Congress Country Study,4) The Counter Reformation The defeat of Armada was seen as a punishment for the sins of a too wealthy Spain. It was decided that the country itself had to be purified on a religious level and had to continue its conquests and to Christianise the world under the Catholic Spain. The Counter Reformation that started under Pope Pius IV in Italy in 1560 and went on till 1648, was now also implemented in Spain. However, in Spain, the problems were foreign, in the form of Jews and Muslims, while internal Protestants were rather rare. Two movements of the Counter Reformation, the Inquisition and the Society of Jesus were Spanish. The Council of Trent was convened in 1554 through Pressure from Charles V. The inquisition was used to investigate and prosecute people suspected of being Jews, heretics and Protestants. The society of Jesus (Jesuit movement) was founded by a Spanish aristocrat, Ignatius of Loyola. The art of the Spanish Golden Age Sofonisba Anguissola Anguissola was born in 1532 from the Italian nobility in Cremona, Lombardy, the eldest of six daughters. Her father was a member of the Genoese nobility, while her mother also had a noble background. All the daughters were encouraged to take up painting, but only Sofonisba became a painter. (Mullins,18) At fourteen, Sofonisba started studying with Bernardino Campi, at the Lombard school , and later on under Bernardino Gatti. It is clear that her privileged status as a noble woman were a contributing factor to the fact that she had been given an opportunity to become an artist. Had she been born into the workers class instead, the chances exist that she would have been talented and would have tried to paint, but the opportunity to be tutored in this direction would have been more remote. On the other hand she was severely restricted as a woman due to the fact that she was not allowed to study anatomy. These restrictions seem to be even more ironic when seen against the portrait of Sofonisba by her teacher Bernadino Campi: a work in which the traditional roles of a female being the object of portrayal for a male artist are emphasised (portrait of Sofonisba Anguissola by Bernadino Campi). Her noble disposition made it possible for her to be recommended by the Duke of Alba to the Spanish King Phillip II in 1559 at the age of 27. Her duty at the court would be to tutor the queen. At the court she was expected to depict the intricate designs of the fine fabrics and elaborate jewellery worn by the royal family and to teach this art to the queen. While it was more difficult than the self portraits she painted during her earlier life, she was considered successful in her task. It can furthermore be speculated that the influence of an earlier Virgin Cult under queen Isabella during the Renaissance, combined with piety and nobility, could have set the stage for the possibility of an excellent artist from the nobility to fulfil at least a part of her potential at the court. (Smith, 108). In later life her career as a painter was advanced by a generous pension from the King which allowed her to work freely. During this period she not only painted portraits of herself, her family and the people at the court, but also religious scenes. Works Not only was her career made possible by the class into which she was born, but it also had an influence on her subject matter, which mostly consist of portraits of herself and in earlier years her family, as well as the people at the court with whom she came into contact in the time when she lived in Spain. At the same time, the restrictions laid on her because she was female, made it difficult for her to undertake complex multi-figure compositions, forcing her to concentrate on less formal portraits. (Greer,p.180) Her early works already reflects the dignified and delicate charm of the aristocratic life, which would become stronger at the Spanish court. Her most famous painting, and one that were the most often copied, was of queen Elizabeth of Spain with a zibellino. In this work she masterly fulfilled the task of reproducing the delicate lace and damask fabrics and extravagant jewellery that she had to adjust to during her stay at the court. While she obviously took pains with the execution of works like these, the word indulgence would not be appropriate for a work that is elaborate while at the same time noble and dignified. It is quite clear that the artist was perfectly at home, not only in her noble surroundings, but also in her position as tutor to the queen and artist depicting the Renaissance nobility. In contrast with the extravagance of the portrait of queen Elizabeth, a self portrait done in 1610 reminds a lot of an earlier portrait of King Phillip II, who was only recently recognized to have been done by her. Apart from similar compositions there is a simplicity and constraint in both these works, creating the impression that she was strong enough in character in her old age to comfortably identify with a person who was not only male, but also a king, without any inappropriate arrogance. While in the twenty first century there is little admiration for the institution of nobility, her nobility of character can be admired in this work (Sofonisba Anguissola, Self-portrait, 1610). Her works can be seen in galleries in Bergamo, Budapest, Madrid, Naples, Siena and Florence.(Creative Commons Attribution, 6). Her success as tutor and artist were unprecedented for a woman of her time, and many feminist writers of the twentieth century are interested in work. El Greco Birth and Early Education Used in Spain, the nickname El Greco, the Greek, refers to the painters status as a foreigner. El Greco was born on the island of Crete, which was seen as the last stronghold of a fallen Byzantium. His first art classes were with a master of Byzantine icon painting (Bernstein,12). Spain For unknown reasons he left the Island and his home country for Spain in 1576. It can be assumed that he first went to Madrid, from where he tried to impress the Spanish king Phillip II to such an extend that he would own a place as artist at the court(Gudio, 47). The Glory of Phillip II The work that he painted in the hope of being appointed as a painter at the court, was called "The Glory of Phillip II." While according to the title it was meant to portray the king, it was not restricted to a portrait. The bottom half of the work is parted in two, and in the left hand corner depictions of Pope Pius V, King Phillip II, the Dodge of Venice, Moceigo, Marcantonia Colonna and Don Juan of Austria can be seen (Gudio 47). According to Guidio the arrogance of these saints are typical of the Italian High Renaissance. However, the Spanish pride during the Golden Century and El Greco's own enigmatic claim that he himself is a better artist than Michelangelo also comes to mind. (Bernstein, 12, Smith, 15). In the right hand part the shadowy figures of sinners are devoured by a whale-like monster who could be interpreted a Satan, while angels are flying on the upper part of the work making music in the clouds. From a stylistic point of view the work differs from the later El Greco in that the proportions are not yet a elongated in the typical El Greco style, and the expressionistic distortions are still absent. The individualistic use of space is already present. According to Gudiol the artist was still struggling to find his own style while executing this work, while at the same time he was prepared to compromise in order to impress the King. Despite the very dramatic and imaginative content, the work was rejected by the King. (Gudiol, 47) El Greco departed from Madrid and went to the strange town of Toledo which was, amongst others, the home of the fifteenth century sourceres Marques de Vilenna (Bernstein, 12) In Toledo he was surrounded and patronized by clerics. His first commissions came from the brothers Diego and Luis de Castilla, who commissioned alatarpieces for Santo Dominigo el Antiguo, (Gudiol 60) The clerics admired him for the way he transformed the artistic ideals of the Counter Reformism with his very personal style which they interpreted as spiritual mysticism. They saw his inexplicable deformation of the physical body as a triumph of the spirit in a way similar to Byzantine art. The melancholy, pain and mystical ecstacy displayed or read into his work would also find favour with the church in this strange town. But while he was respected by the monks and clerics, some critics would despise the fact that he had yielded to the concepts of clerics, and criticize him for compromising the Renaissance ideals to be useful to the church during the religiously fanatical times of the counter reformation. For these reasons he would often be under-valued as an artist (Bernstein,14). Portrait of the Great Inquisitor Don Fernando Nino de Guevara. Of this man the writer Arturo Serrano Plaja wrote that "there was not an atom of charity in him" (Goldscheider 80). Compared to other works by El Greco this work can be described as reasonably realistic as far as an absence of deformation and elongated proportions and strange use of space are concerned. The composition of the person described above, sitting between two spaces against a door and a wall rather than being framed by either one, does however remind of of unexpected opposing spaces and co-existing scenes in many of El Greco's works. There is also a typical El Greco feeling in the way he is seated as if he is about to fly. The left hand is furthermore distorted in a way that is absolutely typical of El Greco, and that expresses a stormy inner emotional life as opposed to his calm external appearance in a way reminiscent of the work of the twentieth century expressionists. The sympathetic way in which this humaneness is revealed in a single distortion contradicts the above mentioned view of the inquisitor as being completely heartless. A certain degree of sympathy and humaneness can also be discovered behind his glasses, painted somewhat clumsily. The dramatic red clothes and golden background further emphasise the hidden emotional interior (Portrait of the Great Inquisitor Don Fernando Nino de Guevara). The inquisitor's connections with the Counter Reformation do not need to be explained. However, the true enigma, from a twenty first century point of view lies in the artist's depiction of a man that must certainty at least have been hard and cruel. While we should keep in mind that being a foreigner in a country where the slightest suspicion can lead to violent acts of xenophobia and cruel enquiries and torture, could not have been easy, El Greco's expression of religious realities in Spain seem to be too authentic to be interpreted as a way of manipulating the church for opportunistic reasons or out of fear. The Enigma of El Greco. While on the one hand the admiration and patronage of the monks made it possible for El Greco to survive as artist, their opinion of his work might on the other hand, ironically have missed the extend of his talent. The label of Counter Reformist is in fact not enough to describe the paradoxes and the universality of his intensely personal style. Apart from his religious convictions, which must have been personal and true to enable him to express himself in such an intense and authentic way, he was also interested in some theories on sixteenth century optics, mathematics and science. Apart from the mentioned similarities with Byzantine art, his work also display signs of what could be called the mature stages of the Renaissance, that would ultimately lead to mannerism and baroque art. The Byzantine blend of Hellenic art and Asiatic ornamentation might further more have displayed some coincidental similarities with the Spanish blend of Renaissance and Moorish ornamental artistic traditions. El Greco's work also display similarities with the Renaissance man in the way he expressed moral-philosophical ideas in terms of visual symbols. In most of his works man is in the centre, absorbing the environment into himself. A mysterious contradiction exists in his work in which the static images of Byzantium are combined, reconciled and integrated with the dynamism of the Renaissance Guidol (p. 67) describes his style as a blend of Byzantine idealism, Venetian colour, composition influenced by Titian and Tintoretto and mannerist elongation of proportions. And while the social, political, religious and artistic environment in which he found himself can without any effort be read into his work, the reasons as to why he reacted to these conditions with the specific personal style that is ultimately universal enough to be only fully appreciated in the twentieth century, will remain a mystery. Diego Velsquez Diego Velsquez was born in Seville , Spain in 1599, in a time of political and economic decline in a country that suffered under cruel and decadent rulers. (Skira, 141) . Velsquez's parents were from the lesser nobility. As such he had a good education, concentrating on languages and philosophy, and he was taught to fear God. His first art teacher was Francisco de Herrera and a the age of 12 years he started to work as an apprentice in the studio of Francisco Pacheco in Seville. He was granted an opportunity to go to Madrid in April 1922, taking with him a letter from Don Juan de Fonseca, who was chaplain to the king. When the king's court painter died in December that year, Velsquez was offered 50 ducats to come to the court, where a portrait of the King was commissioned and completed in one day. He was immediately accepted as court painter and his family was moved to Madrid. (Creative Commons Attribution, 4) Portrait of Pope Innocent He was tall in stature, thin, choleric, splenetic, with a red face, bald in front with thick eyebrows bent above the nose, that revealed his severity and harshness.... With these words Giacinto Gigli in 1655 described Pope Innocent X . He also said that his face was the most deformed ever born among men. ( Kren and Marx,1) Despite this description, the portrait of the Pope Innocent is paradoxically one of the most admired portraits in the seventeenth century. The question would therefore inevitably arise whether the portrait or the above statement is a misrepresentation. The man in the portrait was at the time when he was painted more or less 75 years old, and his character was described as energetic, hard working and bad tempered (Kren and Marx,1). Paradoxically, the subject of this beautiful portrait can easily be reconciled with the above description, but without evoking a reaction of disgust in the spectator. The work seems to be a completely realistic beautiful portrait of an ugly man . None of the above characteristics are deliberately hidden: The strangely coloured red skin is there for us to see, as are the eyebrows, the nose, the baldness and the leanness. His facial expression is at the same time suspicious, somewhat tense and intelligent, the white of the sleeves which are repeated in the lace of the skirt and the collar emphasize the sensitivity of hands, while the clothes are used in a natural way to hide his long and thin frame. Rather than to emphasize the redness of the face described above, the red background with the shadowy, damask-like patterns on the fabric, the red and golden chair, cap and mantle make the face with it's red stains and strange shadows look relatively normal. The face might not be beautiful, but the beauty with which the person is surrounded, and in which it belongs, as well as a deep understanding and respect for the individual personality makes a beautiful painting. Although the pope is not revealed in the same way in the portrait as in the above description, and the conclusion is more or less the opposite, it cannot be described as a deliberate misrepresentation either. Compared to a similar work by El Greco more or less a century before, the obsessive spiritualism of the former is absent, and the work of Velsquez is more realistic, displaying a realism tempered by a respect that might be equally real. Las Meninas The spontaneity of the work creates an impression that the artist, having recognized the full potential of the moment, have frozen it in time. On the other hand the inclusion of the artist himself in the portrait shows that there must have been some calculated idea behind the composition and the message of the work. Las Meninas anticipates a similar work by 19th century painter Gustave Courbet, called "The Artists Studio" (1855). The daughter of King Phillipe V, Margareta Theresa, forms the central point of the work and with the light falling on her, she appears to be the main subject of the work. Her servants surround her on both sides, amongst others a dwarf who is used cunningly to emphasize Margarita's beauty, as well as two girls bowing and a little boy on the right hand side in the process of teasing a dangerous dog lying in the corner of the painting. The scene obviously plays itself out in the artist's studio at the court, where the artist in the process of painting is visible from behind a canvass and the back wall and side walls are all covered with paintings of different sizes. As far as his depiction of the king and the queen are concerned, their reflections or images on the back wall , reminiscent of the mirror of the Arnolfini by Jan van Eyck in 1434, on the one hand reveal their mysterious and untouchable presence and at the same time hide them from too severe a public glance at a time when the Spanish rule was in a period of decadence and decline. The question of weather they are actually depicted in a portrait or mirror remains part of the mystery: while it resembles a mirror, a real mirror image would have reflected some other aspects of the room in the same way as the mirror in the Arnolfini reflects part of the room in which the couple is getting married. The self portrait of Velzquez is very significant in that it provides the spectator with an insight into the more intimate details of the artist's life at court, bringing under our attention the whole complex relationship between the court artist, his patrons and their family, and as such also highlights the problems of the influence the patrons must have had on the integrity and honesty of an artist who must undoubtedly have been aware of their weaknesses. Without ever violating the dignity of any one of the subjects in the painting the undertones are already whispering in the same language as the work of Spanish artist Francisco Goya a few centuries later. Weather it is out of opportunism or genuine gratitude, the same respect for human individuality and for the person of the king and queen that could be seen in Portrait of Pope Innocent X, is also present in Las Meninas. However, a deeper knowledge of what is going on behind the scenes can be sensed on a symbolic and intuitive level, serving as a social comment. Further symbols of decline are the dwarf, placed next to the Infanta, and the foreboding in the image of a dangerous and angry dog being teased by a child in play. Francisco de Zurbaran Francisco de Zurbaran was born in Fuentes de Cantos in 1598. He started working as an apprentice at the age of 16, and three years later opened a workshop in Llerna, where he would stay for 11 more years. During this time he practiced Spanish Quietism, a way of discovering God in submissive mystical silence. This quiet activity had a profound influence on his works, which were mostly religious in a mystical way, conforming quite spontaneously and voluntarily "to the guidelines for Counter Reformation artists outlined by the Council of Trent" (Mann,1). He started creating works for many monasteries, and in 1929 the town council of Seville persuaded him to move there (Mann,1,2,). The Painters' Guild of St. Luke ordered him to submit to an examination, which he refused. Between April and November 1634 he successfully worked with Velsquez at the court of King Phillip IV. After 1640 his career started declining, due to the collapse of the Spanish economy and the fact that a more tender kind of piety became fashionable at this time. (Mann, 2) He died in poverty in 1664. Self Portrait: St. Luke Painting the Crucifixion The art of Zurbaran is almost exclusively religious, and his paradoxical blend of realism and mysticism makes him one of the most important representatives of the golden age. St Luke painting a crucifixion is believed to be a self-portrait, showing St. Luke in front of a canvass with a scene of the cross painted on it, holding a brush and palette, clothed humbly like a peasant and displaying an air of almost ecstatic religious devotion. Like the other artists discussed here, Zurbaran was clearly used by the Catholic church of his time to promote the Counter Reformism. On the other hand if this is indeed a self-portrait, as is widely assumed, it would also be an expression of the image he has of himself. It is quite significant that he stayed true to his own artistic and religious principles despite financial problems, and that he refused to be examined by the Guild of St. Luke, proving that he was not completely submissive to the church as an institution or to the institution of the inquisition. Conclusion It is clear from the above examples of artists from the Golden Age that both the state and the church made use of artists to propagate their ideas and confirm their power. At the same time the traditional domination of males over females was extended to artists. The relationship of the artist to his patron must undoubtedly have been an uncomfortable one, and the danger that instead of listening to his own conscience he would be forced to represent what is expected by the ruler, was very real. We can safely assume that many ideas that in a different system would have been propagated by artists, had died a silent death, while many others were directly and indirectly forced by patrons. It is furthermore very clear that a work of art can under no circumstances be fully understood without some knowledge of the surrounding political, social and religious structures. The so-called innocent beholder is for that reason also a misled beholder. On the other hand the artists described above could never be fully described as products of their circumstances. In all the cases the creative genius behind the works remained, despite the calculations of their patrons and rulers, enigmatic and unpredictable. While the social and religious order in Spain's Golden Age was represented by all these artists, they were seldom forced into misrepresenting their own ideals. Bibliography Bernstein, L El Greco, Thames and Hudson, London, 1967 Brilliant, R How an Art Historian Connects Art Objects and Information, Library Trends, Vol. 37, no. 2 Fall 1988, pp.120-129 Creative Commons Attribution -Share Alike Licence Diego Velsquez Last modified 5 February 2010. Web. Accessed 26 March 2010 Goldschreider, L El Greco, Phaidon Press, London, 1949 Greer, G (1978) The Obstacle Race: The Fortunes of Women Painters and Their Work, New York: Farrar Gudio, J : El Greco, Secker & Warburg, London, 1973 Kren,E and Marx, D Web Gallery of Art, Web. Accessed 26 March 2010 Library of Congress Country Study, Spain: Historical setting, About.com Web. Accessed 24 March 2010 Mann, R.G Francisco De Zurbaran, Britannica Concise Encyclopedia, 1994-2010, Web, Accessed 25 March 2010 Mullins, GS Sofonisba Anguissola: History's Forgotten Prodigy, Women's Studies 18(2:3): 269 Skira, A: Treasures of Spain, Geneva, 1965 Smith, B: Spain: A History in Art, Simon & Schuster, New York, 1966 Read More