Francisco de Goya

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
Datos Generales
Cronología
1798
Ubicación
The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Dimensiones
205 x 133 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil on canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Titular
El Prado National Museum
Ficha: realización/revisión
04 Feb 2010 / 15 Jun 2023
Inventario
(P03236)
Inscripciones

Jovellanos / por / Goya ("Jovellanos by Goya", on the paper that the sitter is holding in his hand).

Historia

Jovellanos left this painting to Arias Saavedra in his will. Its next known owner was the antique dealer Mariano Santamaría (Madrid). By 1928 it was in the collection of the Duchess of Torres, in Madrid. At the time of the Paris exhibition of 1961-1962, the owner was the Viscountess of Irueste. The Ministry of Education purchased it in 1974 for the Prado Museum, and it was first mentioned in the museum's catalogue in the 1985 edition.

Análisis artístico

Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (1744-1811) was a prominent lawyer and one of the most important intellectuals in enlightened Spain, as well as a great lover of the arts and sciences. Appointed Madrid Court Judge in 1778, two years later he was elected academician of the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts, Madrid. In 1798 he was named Minister of Grace and Justice of a short-lived reformist and progressive cabinet. He wrote a number of essays on economics, politics, agriculture, philosophy and customs, the objective of which was a transformation of the country.

The subject is depicted seated in a chair, one elbow resting on a desk that is covered with papers and books, absorbed in his thoughts and with a certain melancholy air about him. His face transmits perfectly his serene, intelligent and thoughtful personality. His pose is both elegant and relaxed, and his clothes, very sober and utterly devoid of any decoration, consist of a grey dress coat, dark trousers, white stockings and black shoes with silver buckles.

In the background, on the left-hand side, is a drawn-back green curtain with gold trimming. On the right there stands a statue of Minerva, goddess of wisdom, the arts and the sciences, who appears to be extending out to the sitter her right hand in a protective gesture, whilst her left hand rests on a shield bearing the arms of the Royal Asturian Institute of Navigation and Mineralogy, a body founded at the initiative of Jovellanos.

The portrait was made shortly after Jovellanos was named Minister of Grace and Justice, at the highpoint of his career.

Exposiciones
  • Goya 1900
    Ministerio de Instrucción Pública and Bellas Artes
    Madrid
    1900
    consultant editors Aureliano de Beruete, Alejandro Ferrant, Marqués de Pidal and Ricardo Velázquez. May 1900
  • Goya
    Ministry of Foreing Affairs
    Burdeos
    1951
    organized by the Bordeaux City Hall, consultant editor Gilberte Martin-Méry. From May 16th to June 30th 1951
  • Goya
    Musée Jacquemart-André
    París
    1961
    consultant editor Jean-Gabriel Domergue. From December 1961 to February 1962
  • El arte de Goya
    Museo de Arte Occidental de Tokio
    Tokyo
    1971
    from 16th 1971 to January 23th 1972. Exhibited also at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, January 29th to March 15th 1972.
  • Goya in the Prado
    The National Gallery of Art
    Washington
    1976
    from May 6th to 31st 1976
  • Goya
    Palacio de Pedralbes
    Barcelona
    1977
    from April 12th to June 30th 1977
  • De El Greco a Goya
    Palacio de Bellas Artes
    Mexico D.F.
    1978
    November-December 1978
  • Goya y el espíritu de la Ilustración
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1988
    from October 6th to December 18th 1988. Exhibited also at Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, January 18th to March 26th 1989; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Nueva York, May 9th to July 16th 1989, Madrid curator Manuela B. Mena Marqués, scientific directors Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Eleanor A. Sayre
  • Goya. La década de Los Caprichos
    Madrid
    1992
    organized by Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando sponsored by Fundación Central Hispano, Madrid, consultant editor Nigel Glendinnig. From October 26th 1992 to January 10th 1993
  • Realidad e imagen. Goya 1746 – 1828
    Museo de Zaragoza
    Zaragoza
    1996
    consultant editor Federico Torralba Soriano. From October 3th to December 1st 1996
  • Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1996
    consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996
  • Goya y el Mundo Moderno
    Museo de Zaragoza
    Zaragoza
    2008
    organized by the Fundación Goya en Aragón at the Museo de Zaragoza, consultant editors Valeriano Bozal and Concepción Lomba Serrano. From December 18th 2008 to March 22nd 2009
  • Goya en tiempos de guerra
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2008
    consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marqués, from April 14th to July 13th 2008
  • Goya luces y sombras
    CaixaForum
    Barcelona
    2012
    consultant editors José Manuel Matilla and Manuela B. Marqués. From March 16th to June 24th 2012
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • Goya: The Portraits
    London
    2015
  • Goya
    Basle
    2021
Bibliografía
  • DESPARMET FITZ - GERALD, Xavier
    L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols
    París
    1928-1950
    p. 90, cat. 372
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 189, cat. 675
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p. 300, cat. 376
  • SALAS, Xavier de
    Goya
    BarcelonaCarroggio S.A. de Ediciones
    1974
    p. 185, cat. 284
  • LUNA, Juan J. (Comisario)
    Goya. 250 Aniversario
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1996
    pp. 185 (il), 386 (det.), 374 y 375, cat
  • TORRALBA SORIANO, Federico (comisario)
    Realidad e imagen. Goya 1746 – 1828
    MadridGobierno de Aragón y Electa España
    1996
    pp. 118 y 119 (il.), cat. 36
  • MENA MARQUÉS, Manuela B.
    Goya en tiempos de guerra
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2008
    pp. 156 y 157 (il.), cat. 14
  • LOMBA, Concepción y BOZAL, Valeriano (comisarios)
    Goya y el Mundo Moderno
    ZaragozaFundación Goya en Aragón y Lunwerg
    2008
    p. 96, (il.), cat. 3
  • MENA MARQUÉS, Manuela B. y MAURER, Gudrun (comisarias)
    Goya en Madrid. Cartones para tapices 1775-1794
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2014
    p. 234-235
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    pp. 38-39
  • BRAY, Xavier
    LondonNational Gallery Company
    2015
    pp. 97-98
Enlaces externos
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