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La Roméria de Francisco de Goya y Luciente ----
Pastel . 330mm x 500mm . Private collection . © Peter Siddell 1996 |
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| It was the great masterpieces of Velasquez, Goya and El Greco that originally drew me to Spain; paintings must be seen in the flesh to be comprehended - a reproduction at its best can only give a vague indication of what the work is about. Like generations of painters before me I stood speechless in front of Las Meninas and marvelled at the Burial of Count Orgaz. At the start of my journey I saw a large exhibition of the paintings of Goya at the Prado Museum to mark the 250th anniversary of his birth, His paintings offered the viewer a journey from the springtime of youth through to the power of his final black paintings. The sense of these paintings remained with me and I saw Spain through the works of Goya; warm high spirited people undaunted by a turbulent history in a harsh landscape. Revisiting the Goya paintings at the end of my journey I now saw them afresh and had an inkling of the dark undercurrent that lay behind those final black works. This painting wth Gaucin and Frontera preceding were the outcome of travelling in Spain. See also From the Antipodies and a review on the review page |
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