Masterpiece or Mistake- The Truth about Goya
By Khilen Mehta
El Coloso, one of the most famous paintings of Francisco de Goya, has been pulled from a new exhibition in the Prado, citing doubts about whether this was actually painted by Goya.
El Coloso has long been hailed as one of Goya’s most dramatic portrayals of the horrors of war. The celebrated work shows a giant naked figure, his eyes shut and fists clenched, rising above a dark, mountainous landscape from which people and animals flee in a terrified stampede. It has been considered by many to demonstrate the sentiments of war and chaos felt by the Spaniards during the invasion of Napoloeon’s army.
However mysteriously the painting, which has formed part of the Prado’s collection for over 80 years has been withdrawn without reason from the new blockbuster exhibition, “Goya In Times Of War”.
The Prado’s director, Miguel Zugaza, told the national daily ABC on Friday that, “Our knowledge of Goya’s work has advanced greatly in recent years, and doubts over the attribution of El Coloso are widely accepted by the museum’s scientific team.” He also insisted that the evidence would be made public eventually after their team completed their investigation over the authenticity of the painting.
This news has sparked public outrage amongst art fans. Professor Glendinning of London University recently wrote an academic study robustly defending the authenticity of the painting. He said to, “Remove this painting from view and put it out of sight, in limbo, is grossly unfair to the public, if the museum doesn’t like it, they should tell us why.” The professor will be holding a talk in Madrid tomorrow night, reinstating his conviction that the painting is an authentic and trying to persuade the museum to reinstate the painting.
In El Coloso’s absence, the highlight of the exhibition is likely to be Goya’s restored Le Dos de Mayo which portrays the uprising of the Madrid’s citizens against Napoleon’s troops, which has been disfigured due to gashes inflicted during the Spanish Civil War. The masterpiece was taken from Madrid to Valencia, then Barcelona, to protect it from Franco’s bombardments in 1938, but fell off the lorry en route and was torn in several places. After months of painstaking work, the missing work from preliminary sketches and copies of the original have been restructured. The restored canvas goes on show tomorrow in a condition as fresh as when Goya painted it in 1814.