Title: Just back from the Prado...
Product review: I haven't bought this book, but I saw the paintings this week. Really affected me. So...black. Most of the subjects in the paintings have grotesque faces that are merely smudges of black, grey and silver, as if they were gargoyles that had been burned alive. With subjects sometimes grouped together, they composed "the mob" which Goya detested so much--from seeing mob atrocities from the Napoleonic-Spanish war. As disturbing as they are, they are painted in such a powerful manner that it was hard to turn away from them. Several of them lack real focus, as if Goya had grown so disgusted with humankind that it wasn't worth the effort to have his subjects actually doing anything. But he is at least painting for himself, not indulging the vanity of the Catholic Church or rich members and patrons of the Royal Family. So much artistic talent wasted during this period on overweight Dukes on horseback...
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