The principle of ahimsa in Indian philosophy. The principle of Ahimsa is non-harm to living things. Ahimsa towards oneself

GOYA FRANCISCO

(born in 1746 - died in 1828) (born in 1746 - died in 1828)

The work of the great Spanish artist Francisco Goya has attracted close attention for more than a century and a half. The first attempts to decipher the world of this master were made in the middle of the 19th century - in 1842, when Théophile Gautier dedicated an article to Francisco Goya. In 1857, Charles Baudelaire wrote about him, and in 1858, a monograph by L. Matheron was published. Since then, the flow of research has increased continuously.

This interest in Goya’s work is explained not only by the outstanding artistic qualities of his works, but also by the fact that he lived in an era of profound socio-historical changes. His art was a vivid manifestation of the crisis situation of the destruction of the old time and the birth of the new.

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was born on March 30, 1746 in the town of Fuendetodos, near Zaragoza (province of Aragon, Spain). His father is a famous master gilder, his mother is the daughter of an impoverished hidalgo. However, despite his father’s talents and his mother’s noble origins, the Goya family only had enough money for the bare essentials.

They soon moved to Zaragoza, where at Escuelas Peace College young Francisco learned to read and write (later one of the artist’s biographers, trying to decipher his handwriting, noted: “Goya’s letters were hammered together by a carpenter”). In addition, from the age of 14, the young man took drawing lessons from the artist Jose Lusan.

At the age of seventeen, Goya moved to Madrid to become an artist, and in 1763 and 1766 he participated in the entrance competition to the Academy fine arts San Fernando. However, the examiners failed him both times, and in 1769 he left Spain to study painting in neighboring Italy.

However, according to one of the legends surrounding Goya’s life, the reason why he went to Italy was much more romantic. Francisco fled there with the traveling bullfighters, allegedly after getting into a fight and nearly killing his opponent while defending the honor of a lady. In general, insatiable ambition and stubbornness, combined with a violent temperament, constantly pulled young Goya into various stories; He has many love affairs with aristocrats, prostitutes, peasant women and mahas - his main muses.

"Maha is feminine from “maho” (now this word in our language has been transformed into “macho”). In Spain at that time, mahos were representatives of the urban lower classes, robbers, revelers and drunkards. Maha is a woman of easy virtue, but not a prostitute in the generally accepted sense. Goya addressed the theme of beauties free from conventions - maha - more than once: “Maha and the Fans”, “Dancing Makha”, “Maha on the Balcony”. In these paintings, he glorified the passion of feelings and frankness of intentions and thoughts, contrasting them with stiffness and cold calculation.

So, heading to Italy, Francisco continues to paint and even receives second prize at the competition of the Academy of Fine Arts in Parma for a painting on an ancient theme, “Hannibal looking from the heights of the Alps on the Italian lands.” As often happens, the name of the winner of the first prize has not remained in history.

After two years of study, Goya returned to Zaragoza in 1771 and began his career as a professional painter, working on church frescoes: he painted the chapel of the Count de Sobradiel, the churches of Remolinos and Aula Bay, and then one of the domes of the city cathedral of Santa Maria del Pil ar.

In 1773, Francisco moved to Madrid and after some time, having received patronage, began working on paintings that served as models for tapestries at the royal tapestry workshop. He received protection through his marriage to Josefina Bayeu, the sister of the owner of the workshop where he works. Gradually, Goya becomes popular and acquires influential patrons.

In 1777 Francisco became seriously ill for the first time. Taking into account hints from his friend Zapater, some biographers suggest that the artist contracted a venereal disease. Modern scientist, Dr. Sergio Rodriguez believes that Goya became a victim of syphilis, which manifested itself years later, undermined the artist’s health and influenced the themes of his work. There is, however, a version that the cause of the disease is poisoning from lead vapor, which is part of the paints that the artist mixed. But one way or another, the illness temporarily recedes, and Goya again plunges into work.

During his years in Madrid, the artist achieved significant success: on May 7, 1780, he was unanimously elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts of San Fernando, and in 1785 he became its vice-director. In 1789, the son of a simple gilder from the village of Fuendetodos received the position of court painter to King Charles IV. The title of court artist brought Goya an annual allowance of 15 thousand reais; he became rich and famous. Now he could allow himself to say: “I no longer wait in waiting rooms; the one who wants to see me comes to me and asks me, as a great favor, to paint a portrait. Now I don’t grab any job.”

Nevertheless, Goya continued his work at the royal tapestry workshop. Members of the aristocracy and royal family, politicians, legislators and high church dignitaries, as well as poets, artists, actors and bullfighters pose for him. As soon as Goya had the opportunity to meet the ladies of the court, he seemed to forget Josefina, who, unlike most wives and girlfriends of artists, was not his muse and model (he painted only one portrait of her).

In the fall of 1792, going on business to the city of Cadiz on the ocean coast, Goya again became seriously ill. For more than two months he was in serious condition: severe migraines led to loss of orientation in space and falls, he was bothered by constant tinnitus, and at times he stopped seeing. But, most importantly, the artist was paralyzed right hand; periodically feverish twitching and trembling in the muscles began. Sometimes he lost consciousness.

Ability to see the world It soon recovered, but the hand remained motionless for a long time, and the hearing disappeared forever. From now on, he understood the speech of other people only by the movements of his lips.

Dr. S. Rodriguez believes that all of the listed symptoms (right-sided paralysis, ragged handwriting, weight loss, dizziness, weakness, muscle twitching) indicate the consequences of syphilis, which was undertreated in 1777. The artist’s severe deafness, which developed as a result of damage to the nervous system, also fits into the clinical picture of this dangerous disease. However, there are other versions.

In the spring of 1793, one of Goya’s friends wrote to Madrid: “The noise in the head and deafness have not yet passed, but he looks much better and, moreover, no longer suffers from impaired coordination of movements. He can already go up and down the stairs.” However, another witness to the artist’s illness at the same time reported in a letter: “As I already told you, Goya has lost his mind, which he has not had for a long time.”

A close encounter with the deafness and loneliness in which he was immersed changed Goya's art forever. From now on, his palette was dominated by brown, gray and black tones, interspersed with bright spots of color like flashes of lightning. The technique of painting also changed: the lines became shorter, more nervous - artists who would be called impressionists mastered this style only at the end of the nineteenth century. The subjects of paintings are increasingly becoming dark, phantasmagoric subjects.

The artist himself wrote in 1794: “In order to convey by the power of imagination the pain of my paralysis and at least partially testify to my illness, I painted whole line images, where he put together observations that are usually not found in commissioned works, since there it is hardly possible to develop a joke and fantasy.”

Goya began painting for himself, measuring the depth of his imagination, exhibiting a freedom and originality not found in his previous works. His works from this time on were distinguished by new depth and critical vision. According to the famous European researcher Anton Neumar, the reason for such filling with “fantastic images of horrors was undoubtedly the inconsolable loneliness of a deaf man, in whose ears there was a noise raging, and his heart was full of bitterness, thirst and reproaches to God and the whole world.”

If Goya's deafness had, rather, a positive impact on his work, liberating the artist, then the same cannot be said about his administrative career. In 1795, shortly after losing his hearing, he was elected director of the School of Painting of the Academy of San Fernando, but two years later Goya was dismissed, citing the state of his health. Later, another decade later, he sought a place General Director Academy, but was defeated in the vote; 28 out of 29 were against him due to deafness.

In 1799, Goya published his Caprichos, a series of 80 satirical etchings that criticized prejudice, ignorance, superstition and vices. The critic V. Stasov, however, complained that in “Caprichos” there are a lot of “allegories and allegories, why are there so many donkeys sitting in front of genealogical books and riding on unfortunate men, so many monkeys playing jokes on the whole crowd boobies or trimming each other's claws, so many bears, goats, rams and sheep. so many bats - all this instead of living people. finally, so many fantastic, supernatural figures, witches, winged monsters and monsters and all sorts of incredible things.”

By the time Caprichos was completed, Goya was fifty-two years old. He had a long life and creative path behind him. The year 1799 turned out to be a triumphant year for Goya, an officially recognized painter. This year he was appointed the king's first painter, the highest honor for a Spanish artist. Goya began one of the most brilliant periods of his career - his physical condition improved, he again began to paint portraits of high-ranking people.

In many ways, Goya's success was explained by the fact that back in 1791, Goya met the Duchess of Alba, who later became his lover and patron. At thirteen she got married, and by twenty all of Spain was watching her. love adventures. “Every hair on the head of the Duchess of Alba evokes desire,” wrote a French traveler. “When she walks down the street, everyone leans out of the windows and even children stop their games to look at her.”

After she visited his studio in the summer of 1795, the artist shockedly confessed to one of his friends: “Now I finally know what it means to live!” The duchess's husband passed away in 1796, and, observing official mourning, the duchess went to her castle in Sanlúcar for a year, and Goya went to accompany the inconsolable widow.

It is difficult to say what explained the duchess’s love for the deaf, middle-aged court artist prone to depression. Maybe it was just an eccentric desire to try out his charms once again, or was the reason for the passion was admiration for Goya’s talent? There is no answer to this question, but, be that as it may, the duchess immortalized herself by becoming a character in the paintings of the great artist. Thanks to Goya, her name became legendary. And it is unlikely that any arguments will convince today that the model for the famous paintings “Dressed Macha” and “Naked Macha” was not the Duchess of Alba, but the favorite of the then Prime Minister.

Goya's affair with the Duchess of Alba lasted seven years until her death, and many of the female characters in Caprichos feature her character. “False dream and inconstancy” - the words written by the artist under one of the unpublished etchings sound like a sad epitaph of their love and his beloved.

The Duchess died suddenly in 1802, but Alba remained depicted completely naked in hundreds of drawings made by the artist. She allowed Goya to keep them, but on one she wrote: “Keeping something like this is simply madness. However, to each his own."

This painting caused extreme irritation and anger of the Sant'Officio (Holy Inquisition). Some of the most zealous churchmen declared Goya almost a devil, who dares not only to depict such things, but also to breathe passionate life into his canvases, to make naked women mysteriously attractive. Accusations from the Inquisition and the need to refute them had a very difficult effect on the artist.

In 1808, Spain was occupied by Napoleon. Goya witnessed the uprising against Napoleonic troops in Madrid and the repression that followed. After Spain was liberated, he captured these events in two famous paintings: “The Uprising of

Puerto del Sol May 2, 1808" and "Execution of the Madrid rebels on the night of May 3, 1808." At the same time, Goya began a series of 87 etchings, “The Disasters of War.” When Ferdinand VII returned to the Spanish throne, Goya was still a court artist.

His defiantly naturalistic portraits of Ferdinand reveal contempt for the new king. Retiring to the villa, Goya worked on paintings, continued making etchings for the Disasters of War series, and began the Tauromachy series of etchings depicting the history of bullfighting in Spain. At the same time, Goya painted the walls of his house with images of nightmares, painted portraits of his grandson Mariano, and began the last, most bitter series of etchings, “Disparates.”

Over the years, Goya's paintings become increasingly darker - sometimes ominous figures on the canvases barely emerge from the darkness. The artist addresses the infernal theme: “They are calling the witches,” “The Sabbath of Witches. Big goat" (as you know, the devil at the Sabbath often appears to his minions in the form of a huge black goat), etc.

Goya's most famous etching is “The sleep of reason gives birth to monsters.” Entire episodes are dedicated to auto-da-fé and the horrors of war. The latest works were made under the influence of Napoleon's invasion of Spain. He perceived the war from a moral position, believing that no political ideals could justify blood and innocent victims.

In 1812 his wife died. Son Javier marries and begins to live separately. Goya remains “all alone” - in complete silence. In the same year, the artist created the engraving “Hands”, which shows 20 hands, each of which depicts one or another figure, depending on the position of the fingers - on one they are clenched into a fist, on the other four fingers are extended, and one is pressed to palms, on the third - fingers spread, and so on.

Until recently, it was assumed that when creating an engraving, the artist pursued a purely didactic goal - to demonstrate the anatomy of the hand and present its various options. However, a more thorough study of the work, comparing it with other facts, gives grounds to assert that we're talking about about the alphabet for the deaf and dumb.

In a letter to his friend Zapater, Goya reports that he is “beginning to learn to communicate with others using his hands.” It is not surprising, therefore, that the artist tried to help himself and his fellow sufferers using the means available to him.

In 1814, Goya was again awarded the title of court painter. However, the disappointed and sick artist moves away from social life and society and settles in own home, built in 1800 outside of Madrid. Neighbors nicknamed this building “Quinta del Sordo” - “House of the Deaf.”

Goya withdraws more and more into himself, not leaving his house for weeks. He paints the inside of the walls of his home with gloomy frescoes, the so-called “Black Canvases” (they were later moved to the Prado Museum) - for example, “Saturn Devouring Children.” All of them are the fruit of the artist’s visions and hallucinations. And yet fate smiled at him once again.

Goya met Leocadia Weiss, who was cheating on her husband with him, a 68-year-old artist. Soon, her husband divorces her, accusing her of “dishonorable behavior and adultery.” In 1814, Leocadia gave birth to a girl who was named Rosarita. The elderly father dotes on his daughter.

In 1824, the 78-year-old master, not wanting to put up with Ferdinand’s policies, went into voluntary exile in France and, together with Leocadia and Rosarita, left Spain forever. He joined other Spanish intellectuals who fled to Bordeaux, mastered the technique of lithography and produced a series on bullfighting, The Bulls of Bordeaux.

In the spring of 1825, Goya again found himself bedridden. Doctors diagnosed him with bladder paralysis and a colon tumor, which, given the patient’s age, they did not even try to treat. However, Goya cheated death this time too and lived for several more years.

On March 30, 1826, the artist celebrated his 80th birthday. He continued to work and even mastered new technology writing: applied paint to the canvas with fingers or pieces of cloth tied to the handle of a brush.

Shortly before his birthday in 1828, Goya eagerly awaited his grandson Mariano from Spain. But on the eve of his arrival, the artist was stricken with paralysis and lost his speech. ABOUT last days Goya’s life is known from a letter from Dona Leocadia Weiss, the mother of his two illegitimate children: “The grandson and daughter-in-law came to us on the 28th of last month. On April 1st we had lunch together. Until five o'clock the next day, his saint's day, he did not speak. It didn't take long for his speech to return because he was half paralyzed. This state of his health lasted another 13 days. Three hours before his death, he called everyone. He looked at his hand in simple-minded surprise. He wanted to make a will and express his favor, but his daughter-in-law said that he had already done so. For him, this moment remained unclear. His weakness made it impossible to understand anything; he spoke indistinctly. On the night of April 15-16 at 2 o'clock he died. When he fell asleep peaceful and cheerful, even the doctor himself was surprised at his patience and strength. He thinks he didn't suffer, but I'm not sure about that."

Goya escaped loneliness - he died surrounded by his family on the seventeenth day after his 82nd birthday. He was buried in Bordeaux. In 1901, his ashes were transported to Madrid, and in 1919, the great Spaniard found his final rest in the Church of San Antonio de la Florida, where he once created his beautiful frescoes.

Already during his lifetime, Goya was recognized as an outstanding Spanish artist, and his contribution to the development of art in the 19th and 20th centuries was enormous. In fact, he was the first master who turned in his work to current events of his time, abandoning biblical and ancient subjects. Goya's etchings, denouncing existing customs, influenced the French artist Honore Daumier. Shining bright colors in painting and the dramatic effects of chiaroscuro in graphics influenced the development of impressionism in France, especially Claude Monet and Auguste Renoir. The nightmares of Goya's paintings in The House of the Deaf and the horror-filled etchings of Disparates influenced the German Expressionists.

As for Goya’s medical history, as often happens, it gave rise to a lot of controversy among scientists, art historians and doctors who tried, through the veil of time, to understand how physical and mental illnesses influenced his work. A. Krylov, in his article “Macho from Fuendetodos,” provides a number of medical reports regarding the condition of the great artist.

Unlike Dr. S. Rodriguez, who believes that syphilis was the cause of deafness and other serious disorders, American researcher, Professor T. Cowthorn compares the artist’s illness with the medical history of Jonathan Swift. The author of Gulliver's Travels had seizures, accompanied by temporary deafness and severe dizziness, during which he lost orientation. This disease is caused by a virus that causes inflammation of the retina and blood vessels of the eye. The clinical picture of the disease resembles encephalitis and is often accompanied by hearing loss.

Psychiatrist V. Netherlands hypothesized that the symptoms of the illness suffered by Goya in 1792 were due to metal poisoning. Goya most often worked with paints containing lead - an extremely toxic and dangerous metal that can cause serious damage to the nervous system, kidneys, and liver. The situation was aggravated by the fact that the artist often prepared the necessary paints himself, and while working on the canvases, he applied the paints with his hands. Often he used liquid paints, producing small splashes that contribute to the aerosol and contact mechanism of poisoning.

Dr. Netherlands, who studied many patients with lead poisoning, argued that during intoxication with this metal, temporary loss of vision occurs due to inflammation of the optic nerve, seizures similar to epileptic seizures often occur, paranoid ideas and hallucinations, paralysis of the arms or legs appear.

Having studied Goya’s biography, V. Netherlands suggested that the artist had signs of lead poisoning at least twice and this most likely affected the nervous system and influenced Goya’s psyche and artistic inclinations.

Many Goya biographers tried to determine the degree and severity of psychopathological symptoms that had a huge impact on the artist’s entire work. The English psychiatrist F. Reitman came to the conclusion that while working on the series of etchings “Caprichos” the artist was in a state of severe depression and hostility towards the world around him. Being in such a spiritual mood, he began to see infernal connections and mysterious relationships between events that had nothing in common in the most ordinary things. His images of people, witches, and animals, according to Reitman, indicate a pronounced disorder of perception and a tendency to hallucinate. Engravings in which the human soul unites with a crowd of devils and demons, according to the psychiatrist, symbolize his complete dissolution in illness. Even Goya's long loneliness was described by Reitman as a manifestation mental illness, when for the artist only the experiences in the fictitious other world, born of the hallucinations that appeared in him, were of decisive importance.

Summing up the numerous assessments of Goya’s health, Professor A. Neumar writes: “To correctly evaluate Goya’s works, it is necessary to look from a medical point of view as one whole at his personality, art and illness. Only then will we be able to understand how illness affected his creations and how, in turn, the master’s art gradually turned into illness. His illness outlined new values ​​that elevated his art to the art of modern times.”