Francisco de Goya: 1746 - 1828
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, Austria 18 October 2005 - 8 January 2006 www.goyainwien.at
fig.: El quitasol/The Parasol/Der Sonnenschirm around 1777. © Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid (Cartoon for the tapestry of the same title)

The costumes on Goya's cartoons for tapestries are the colorful documents of Rococo fashion. In 1775 Goya works for the royal tapestry manufactory in Spain. Goya captured idyllic scenes for the tapestries - but they show much more than sketchy Rococo playfulness. The painter sympathised with the Enlightenment. Is the scene on this cartoon influenced by such a prominent Enlightenment philosopher as Jean-Jacques Rousseau? The lady is dressed in the typical peasant-style of the Enlightment. Rousseau's "back to nature" philosophy influenced the French Revolution, the development of communist and socialist theory. Has Goya captured the changes of society in this cartoon? The young lady smiles seductively, the young man (he wears the typical trousers of the working-class, which are later the signs for the revolutionary "Sans-culottes") positions the parasol cleverly to protect her from the sun and the rising wind. The wall on the left and the dark clouds visible above it and the tender tree buffeted by the rising wind dampen the cheerful sunny mood ... next>>>