Interesting Art Stories: 79. Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga, Francisco Goya

 

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Currently, I am introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the title “Interesting Art Stories”.

The 79th story is the “Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga” by Francisco Goya.

“Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zúñiga” is a 1787-88 oil painting of the large full-length portrait by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. The painting depicts a boy, standing in red clothes, with birds and cats. It is now in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Portrait of Goya, Vicente López Portaña
(c. 1826)

The painting was commissioned by Vicente Joaquín Osorio de Moscoso y Guzmán, the boy's father and conde de Altamira. He was one of the six dignitaries of the newly established Banco de San Carlos, painted by Goya between 1785 and 1788. 

Portrait of Vicente Joaquín Osorio de
Moscoso y Guzmán, Francisco Goya (1787)

In 1786, Goya was nominated painter to Charles III, and from 1789 he continued as a court painter of his successor, Charles IV.

Charles III of Spain, Anton Raphael Mengs
(c. 1761)

Conde de Altamira commissioned Goya for several family portraits, and the painting depicts his youngest son, Manuel. Goya also painted a portrait of his other son, Vicente Isabel Osorio de Moscoso y Álvarez de Toledo, and a portrait of his wife María Ignacia Álvarez de Toledo y Gonzaga with their daughter María Agustina.

Portrait of Vicente Isabel Osorio de
Moscoso, Francisco Goya (1786–87)

María Ignacia Álvarez de Toledo y
Gonzaga and her daughter,Francisco
Goya  (1787–88)

The pets in this portrait have been interpreted in many different ways, one of which is the caged birds as innocent souls and the cats as evil forces. An example of this is Goya's showing a cat amongst the various creatures in his "The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters", part of "The Caprices".

The sleep of reason produces monsters, Los
Caprichos, Francisco Goya (c. 1799)

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Interesting Art Stories: 78. Portrait of Juan de Pareja, Diego Velázquez

 

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Currently, I am introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the title “Interesting Art Stories”.

The 78th story is the “Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by Diego Velázquez.

The “Portrait of Juan de Pareja” is a painting by Spanish artist Diego Velázquez of his assistant, Juan de Pareja, a prominent painter, who was enslaved and owned by Velázquez when the painting was completed. Velázquez painted this portrait in Rome during traveling in Italy in 1650, which is the earliest known portrait of a Spanish man of African descent.

Self-portrait, Diego Velázquez (c.1640)

It was also the first painting to sell for more than £1 million, and when the Metropolitan Museum of Art, currently possessing the painting, purchased it in 1970, they considered it "one of the most important collections in the history of the Museum."

In 1649, Diego Velázquez, court painter of Philip IV of Spain, took Juan de Pareja, a slave who worked as his assistant in the artist's studio, when he was sent to Rome to purchase artworks for the Alcázar Palace. 

Portrait of Philip IV in Fraga, Diego
Velázquez (c.1644)

During his stay in Rome, Velázquez painted an oil painting of Juan de Pareja, which was displayed in a large-scale painting exhibition at the Pantheon on March 19, 1650. In his studio, Velázquez painted the “Portrait of Juan de Pareja”, a Morisco from the city of Antequera, in southern Spain, as an exercise for the official portrait of Pope Innocent X.

Portrait of Pope Innocent X, Diego
Velázquez (c.1650)

However, the Pope placed demanding orders in both color and composition, and Velázquez, who painted a portrait from life, had to work quickly, capturing the essence of Innocent X. Juan de Pareja was freed by Velázquez in 1654.

For some examples of the painting's impact on popular culture, this portrait inspired the 1965 novel "I, Juan de Pareja” by American writer Elizabeth Borton de Treviño.

"I, Juan de Pareja", Elizabeth Borton de
Treviño (1965)

This painting was reinterpreted by surrealist painter Salvador Dalí in "Portrait of Juan de Pareja, the Assistant to Velázquez" (1960), which is now in the collection of the Minneapolis Institute of Art.

Portrait of Juan de Pareja, the Assistant to Velázquez,
Salvador Dali (1960)

A central theme of an American playwright Ayad Akhtar's 2012 play, “Disgraced”, is a painting of the protagonist, a South Asian Muslim man, painted in the style of the “Portrait of Juan de Pareja” by his white wife.

Disgraced, Ayad Akhtar (2012)

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Interesting Art Stories: 77. Two Tahitian Women, Paul Gauguin, ACJ Art Academy

How are you?

Currently, I am introducing the stories about various artists and their paintings with the title “Interesting Art Stories”.

The 77th story is “Two Tahitian Women” by Paul Gauguin.

Self Portrait with the Idol, Paul Gauguin

“Two Tahitian Women” is an 1899 painting by Paul Gauguin. The painting depicts two women living on the Pacific Island of Tahiti, among which one is holding mango blossoms.

Tahitian Islands

 This painting is part of the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and was donated to the museum by William Church Osborn in 1949.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this painting, Tahiti is portrayed as an innocent paradise and two women are looking at the viewer in a manner similar to that in “Le déjeuner sur l'herbe” (1863) or “Olympia” (1863) by Manet. 

Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe, Édouard Manet (1863)

Olympia, Édouard Manet (1863)

The two women also follow an artistic tradition of comparing woman's breasts to flowers or fruits. The women in this painting also appear in Gauguin's two other paintings such as "Faa Iheihe (Tahitian Pastoral, 1898)” and “Rupe, Rupe (The Fruit Harvest, 1899)”.

Faa Iheihe, Paul Gauguin (1898)

Rupe, Rupe, Paul Gauguin (1899)

The painting was attacked on April 1, 2011 while on loan at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., but due to the protection of the plexiglass, the painting was not harmed.

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