Author

Date of Award

3-18-2013

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Art

First Advisor

Floyd Martin

Abstract

Within the art of the Spanish Romantic artist Francisco José de Goya (1746 - 1828), there exist specific iconographic motifs that exemplify the personality of a melancholic and Saturnine type. Goya depicts the contemplative melancholic motif in such works as Capricho 43 and the Portrait of Jovellanos, and shows the traditional attributes of Saturn in the drawings of A Melancholy Woman and Allegory on Philosophy. My contribution to the study of Goya is important because in addition to the traditional melancholic motif and the attributes associated with Saturn depicted in his art, my thesis serves to see Goya as an artist embodying the very idea of Saturn and melancholy as a consequence of living through tragedy. Capricho 43, for example, not only depicts the melancholic motif but also suggests the darker concept of Saturnine Melancholy. The Black Paintings and Saturn specifically mark the culmination of this theme.

Share

COinS