Art as political subtext: A Philippine centennial perspective on Francisco Goya's Junta de la Real Compañía de Filipinas (1815)

T Miranda-Tchou - Philippine quarterly of culture and society, 1996 - JSTOR
T Miranda-Tchou
Philippine quarterly of culture and society, 1996JSTOR
In the history of Western art, Francisco Lucientes de Goya (1746 1828) ranks among the^
reat masters on at least two accounts: one, as a genius of caprichosidad, his expansive
imagination and expressive reduc? tive style helped deliver the grit and bite of his satirical
works with ineluc? table pungency; and two, as an artist, his profound conviction of the
preeminence of artistic freedom found vent in unorthodox pictorial forms that in turn captured
with compelling articulation the dichotomies, ironies and shifting realities of Spanish life and …
In the history of Western art, Francisco Lucientes de Goya (1746
1828) ranks among the^ reat masters on at least two accounts: one, as a genius of caprichosidad, his expansive imagination and expressive reduc? tive style helped deliver the grit and bite of his satirical works with ineluc? table pungency; and two, as an artist, his profound conviction of the preeminence of artistic freedom found vent in unorthodox pictorial forms that in turn captured with compelling articulation the dichotomies, ironies and shifting realities of Spanish life and society during a period of un? precedented transitions. 2 One of the paintings that reflects the latter dis? tinction and has been argued at least once to be the most outstanding of Goya's masterpieces, is the Junta de la Real Compania de Filipinas (As? sembly of the Royal Philippines Company), 1815.3 It is the largest of Goya's paintings (3.27 mx 4.47 m). It was also his last public painting. 4 Through a large part of the twentieth century, Goya's Junta de la Real Compania de Filipinas has vied, along with Goya's other works, for criti? cal attention and scholarship to unlock the mysteries of its origins and its complex, enigmatic and unconventional character. Until recently, discus
This is a slightly revised version of a paper that was presented at the International Conference on the Philippine Revolution, Manila, August, 1996. It was written with the help of a grant from the University of Michigan at Dearborn and the support of Dr. Shelley Perlove of the Department of Art History of that institution? to whom I express thanks. Teresita Miranda-Tchou resides in Detroit, Michigan, USA and can be reached at the following e-mail address: raytesstchou-semich@ worldnet. att. net. At present she is self-employed as an art consultant.
JSTOR