FAMINE IN GOYA’S TIMES

Self-portrait. 1815. Museo del Prado. Madrid

          

In times of painter and printmaker Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Fuentetodos, Zaragoza, 1746 - Bordeaux, France, 1828), depending on whether we belonged to the nobility or the common people, we could have cooked, tasted or at least heard of any of these dishes: "Prairie gigote", "Rich Uncle’s tasting spicy sausage", "isidril Salad", "Partridge with chocolate", "apples with buds", "grabrieles sigiladas porridge ", "silly soup", "bread and egg round","anger callos","Tavern pickle" or "wall lime”. Two centuries later, in the twenty-first century, we can see in Goya's artworks how characters of that time took some of those dishes as the only food. In order to contemplate this, let’s consider two works, "Gracias a la almorta” (Thanks to the sweet pea) and "Dos viejos comiendo sopa” (Two old men eating soup).

"Thanks to the sweet pea" belongs to one of the engravings known as the "Disasters of War", made by the artist on copper plates. It reflects the time when hunger takes over Madrid (1811), where wheat bread is replaced by rye and barley bread, and sweet pea flour is perhaps one of the rare foodstuff livelihoods remaining in the larders. The focus is on the subject rather than the image, the artist gives up the detail and creates undefined spaces just with etched intertwined lines and various colour schemes in burnished aquatint, in order to introduce a set of characters among which the most important is a woman in a blanket while distributing food. By the name itself that the author gives the work, it could be a porridge made with sweet pea flour.

 

"Gracias á la almorta" (1812-1814) Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. Madrid

" Two old men eating soup ", or " Two old women eating", belongs to one of the fourteen scenes which Goya painted for him, known as "Black Paintings " due to the use of dark tones, predominantly black , ochre, grey and earth colours. It is no longer an engraving but a painting made with pigments in oil on dry wall (today it is transferred on canvas). The technique changes, but not the issue: the hunger of the people. There are two characters in the scene but we do not know whether they are men or women. One of them is toothless and spooky and is about to eat some soup, perhaps the so-called "boba Soup" in Spanish, which represents the soup that was given to spongers who lived off the soup that was given to them at the doors of convents in order to try to appease their hunger. At the same time, that character is pointing to a direction which is also indicated by another ghastly character. Both characters are outlined with paint lines that leave traces and discontinuous lumps which, together with the dark colour, contribute to emphasize the macabre and sinister nature of the characters.

"Two old men eating soup" (1820-1823) Museo del Prado. Madrid.

QUESTIONS:

 1- The full name of the painter and etcher known as Goya is:

 a- Jose Goya.

 b- Francisco de Goya y Lucientes.

 c- Francisco Fuentetodos de Goya. 

 d- Antonio de Goya Fuentetodos

    
 2- “Gracias á la almorta” is an etching that belongs to those known as:

  a- Bullfighting.

  b- The Disasters of War. 

  c- The Vagaries. 

  d- Nonsense.

 3- What does the etching “Gracias á la almorta” represent?
  a- The cooking of porridge with sweet pea flour.
  b- Madrid people’s happiness.
  c- The artist’s emotions. 
  d- The famine that the people in Madrid suffered in 1811.
  
 4-”Two old men eating soup” is one of the fourteen scenes called Black Pinturas Negras (Black Paintings) made by Goya. Which pigments dominate in the artwork? 
   a- Black, ochre, grey and earth tones.    
   b- Light and diffuse colours.
   c- Red, green and brilliant yellow. 
   d- Only black.