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  • 7/27/2019 An Explanation of Hogarth's 'Analysis of Beauty'

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    An Explanation of Hogarth's 'Analysis of Beauty', Pl. I, Fig. 66Author(s): Sheila O'ConnellSource: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 126, No. 970, (Jan., 1984), pp. 33-34Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications, Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/881510Accessed: 21/04/2008 20:21

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    59.PlateI, AnalysisJBeauty, y WilliamHogarth.1753.Etchingwithengraving, 8.5by49.8cm. (BritishMuseum).

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    61. Ecorchemale Agure, byJohn Vardy afterGiles Hussey. c.1740- 6'2.Detail from Fig.50. Etching and engraving printed in red, 33.9 by 21.4 cm. 61.(British Museum).

    _3s..s()(). )etail froln Plate I, .1/lalvsis JBeautv,Fig. 59.

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    SHORTER NOTICESHORTER NOTICESthree pen drawings, which are by Domenico Costaguti, adescendant of the commissioning family and amateur painterof the early nineteenth century, depict Apollo and Midas(Fig.54), Bacchus urroundedy dancingigures (Fig.55) and TheJudgment f Paris (Fig.56).9 It would appear that each instru-ment had one scene painted on the inner lid and a separate oneon the inner keyboard flap.Dughet also painted a very elaborate music machine madefor the Verospi family, which combined seven instruments inone and could be played by a single performer.This room-sizemarvel was the creation of Michele Tondini, an instrument-maker active in Rome between 1650 and 1681. He described itin the 1676catalogue of his music museum, identifying Dughetas the painter of the landscape on the upright structure abovethe keyboard, behind which the elaborate mechanism of theinstrument was hidden.10 The landscape is visible in anengraving by Filippo Bonanni, in his Gabinetto rmonicof 1722(Fig.58) .11It is hoped that the discovery of traces of these instrumentsmay eventually lead to the identification of the works them-selves, and that the expanded knowledge of Dughet's outputmay increase our understanding of these by-ways of hisaeuvre.9 The drawings are in the collection of the Marchese Afan de RiveraCostaguti(Rome), who kindly showed them to me. The photographs here reproducedare the clearest available.10M. TONDINI: Dichiarationedella GalleriaArmonica,Rome [1676], Ch.IV,pp.14-15, '. . .intersiateconpitturedi Gasparo i Pussino . .'1 F. BONANNI: Gabinetto rmonicoienod'istromentiopra ndicati,Rome [1722],published New York [1964] as AntiqueMusical nstrumentsndTheirPlayers,p.80and pl.33 with inscription: 'Prospetto ella Cameradetta Galleriaarmonica elPalazzodellisignoriVerospin Roma . .' TONDINI op. cit., Ch.16, 26, informs usthat the instrument took three years to build, was complete except for thepainting by 1656, but took another nine years to put in place. See WINTERNITZ,op.cit., [1979], pp.114-15.

    An explanation f Hogarth's'AnalysisofBeauty',P1. I, Fig. 66.BY SHEILA O'CONNELL

    THE largest single element in P1. I of Hogarth's Analysis ofBeauty, 1753 (Fig.59) is an ecorcheleg with, superimposed, atriangle and the number 66 (Fig.60). In the text the drawing ofthe leg is compared unfavourablywith the 'serpentine forms'of that numbered65: it is described as being 'treated in a moredry, stiff, and what the painters call, stickymanner, han thenature of flesh is ever capable of appearing in, unless when itsmoisture is dryed away: it must be allowed, that the parts ofthis figure are of as right dimensions, and as truly situated, asin the former;it wants only the true twist of the lines to give ittaste.'While most of the figures in the two plates to the Analysishave been fully elucidated by Stephens and Hawkins2 and byPaulson,3 the butt of the satire in this case has so far been

    three pen drawings, which are by Domenico Costaguti, adescendant of the commissioning family and amateur painterof the early nineteenth century, depict Apollo and Midas(Fig.54), Bacchus urroundedy dancingigures (Fig.55) and TheJudgment f Paris (Fig.56).9 It would appear that each instru-ment had one scene painted on the inner lid and a separate oneon the inner keyboard flap.Dughet also painted a very elaborate music machine madefor the Verospi family, which combined seven instruments inone and could be played by a single performer.This room-sizemarvel was the creation of Michele Tondini, an instrument-maker active in Rome between 1650 and 1681. He described itin the 1676catalogue of his music museum, identifying Dughetas the painter of the landscape on the upright structure abovethe keyboard, behind which the elaborate mechanism of theinstrument was hidden.10 The landscape is visible in anengraving by Filippo Bonanni, in his Gabinetto rmonicof 1722(Fig.58) .11It is hoped that the discovery of traces of these instrumentsmay eventually lead to the identification of the works them-selves, and that the expanded knowledge of Dughet's outputmay increase our understanding of these by-ways of hisaeuvre.9 The drawings are in the collection of the Marchese Afan de RiveraCostaguti(Rome), who kindly showed them to me. The photographs here reproducedare the clearest available.10M. TONDINI: Dichiarationedella GalleriaArmonica,Rome [1676], Ch.IV,pp.14-15, '. . .intersiateconpitturedi Gasparo i Pussino . .'1 F. BONANNI: Gabinetto rmonicoienod'istromentiopra ndicati,Rome [1722],published New York [1964] as AntiqueMusical nstrumentsndTheirPlayers,p.80and pl.33 with inscription: 'Prospetto ella Cameradetta Galleriaarmonica elPalazzodellisignoriVerospin Roma . .' TONDINI op. cit., Ch.16, 26, informs usthat the instrument took three years to build, was complete except for thepainting by 1656, but took another nine years to put in place. See WINTERNITZ,op.cit., [1979], pp.114-15.

    An explanation f Hogarth's'AnalysisofBeauty',P1. I, Fig. 66.BY SHEILA O'CONNELL

    THE largest single element in P1. I of Hogarth's Analysis ofBeauty, 1753 (Fig.59) is an ecorcheleg with, superimposed, atriangle and the number 66 (Fig.60). In the text the drawing ofthe leg is compared unfavourablywith the 'serpentine forms'of that numbered65: it is described as being 'treated in a moredry, stiff, and what the painters call, stickymanner, han thenature of flesh is ever capable of appearing in, unless when itsmoisture is dryed away: it must be allowed, that the parts ofthis figure are of as right dimensions, and as truly situated, asin the former;it wants only the true twist of the lines to give ittaste.'While most of the figures in the two plates to the Analysishave been fully elucidated by Stephens and Hawkins2 and byPaulson,3 the butt of the satire in this case has so far beenunidentified. He was, in fact, the portraitist Giles Hussey. The1 WILLIAM HOGARTH: The Analysis of Beauty (ed. JOSEPH BURKE), Oxford [1955],pp.72-73.2 FREDERIC GEORGE STEPHENS and EDWARD HAWKINS: Catalogue f Prints andDrawingsn theBritishMuseum,Div. I, PoliticalandPersonal atires,Vol.III, PartII, London [1877], pp.871-77 and 879-84, Nos. 3217 and 3226.3 RONALD PAULSON: Hogarth'sGraphicWorks,Vol.1, New Haven and London[1965], pp.219-24, Nos. 195 and 196.

    unidentified. He was, in fact, the portraitist Giles Hussey. The1 WILLIAM HOGARTH: The Analysis of Beauty (ed. JOSEPH BURKE), Oxford [1955],pp.72-73.2 FREDERIC GEORGE STEPHENS and EDWARD HAWKINS: Catalogue f Prints andDrawingsn theBritishMuseum,Div. I, PoliticalandPersonal atires,Vol.III, PartII, London [1877], pp.871-77 and 879-84, Nos. 3217 and 3226.3 RONALD PAULSON: Hogarth'sGraphicWorks,Vol.1, New Haven and London[1965], pp.219-24, Nos. 195 and 196.

    leg has been copied, in reverse and with some exaggeration ofits dryness and lack of fluency, from an engraving by JohnVardy after Hussey's design; an impression is in the BritishMuseum4 (Figs.61 and 62).As early as 1745Vertue recorded that: 'Hogarth (in opposi-tion to Hussey scheem of Triangles) much comments on theinimitable curve or beauty of the S undulating motion line'.5The 'scheem', outlined at length in a series of letters,6 involveda minutely detailed system of 'harmonic' proportions, bymeans of which Hussey determined to improve upon his mod-els, whether taken from the antique or from life. The method,with its scales of measurements and geometrical figures, isdemonstrated in a number of austere outline drawings in theBritish Museum.7 Nothing could be less Hogarthian.In spite of a promising beginning as a student of drawing atthe Academy in Bologna, Hussey failed to attract sufficientpatronage in London: according to an early biographer, hewas reduced to earning 'the scantiest meals by no other means

    4 Department of Prints and Drawings, 1917-12-8-3175.5 GEORGEVERTUE:Notebooks,Vol.III (WalpoleSociety, Vol.XXII), Oxford[1934], p.126.6 The earliest known of Hussey's letters, dated December 1756 and addressedto Robert Bateman Wray, a gem engraver of Salisbury, on the art of seal-engraving and 'the physiognomy of the antient gods', was published in theMonthlyMagazine, [October 1799], and in WILLIAM . WHITLEY: Artists ndtheirFriends n England,1700-1799,London [1928], pp.128-29. A second, hithertounpublished, letter to Wray in the British Museum, Department of Prints andDrawings (c.198* a.8), is dated May 1759:'The Character of Alexander, being the greatest, which has been foundamongst the fragmentsof Antiquity. I thought proper to send you the Profil,which I drew at Rome, by a transparent edium,with all its measures, set toan Harmonical Scale; by which it will appear that the Sculptor, either hadnot a sufficient knowledge of proportion;or did not choose to employ it onthat Subject. I am inclined to believe, from the nature of the inaccuracy's, inthe best productions of the Antients, that they were little acquainted withthe harmonical relations, or concordance of Numbers, and therefore noAntient work can be produced, which may not be considerably improved,Without deviating from the character intended by the artist.I have endeavour'd to convince you of this truth, by the profilcontaind inthis sheet, Wch s set to the same Scale, as the fragment is, and seems to me

    to have a more Regal aspect, derived froman alteration of numbers, whichin the original I judged to be less perfect, as being more remote, from theprimary concordances to which all our Ideas of proportion ought to tend,and in which they finally terminate.Now the primary concdrdances are: as I is to 2Between Which there are many 2 to 3harmonical means. which are found 3 to 4 Bestarithmetically, by addition of the 4 to 5extreams. 5 to 66 to 7 Indifferent7 to 8Thus if a line be divided into 2 parts, and again into 3, and a mean isrequired between the 3d, and half, mark the numbers thus 1/2as fractions of the whole, Mean 2/5then say 2 & 3 is 5 1/3and twice one is 2.that is, 2/5 of the whole like is the harmonical mean Sought. in like manner

    if between 2/5ths and 1/3d another mean was required, add 3 and 5. and 1and 2 togeather, and youl have 3/8 of the whole line. This in General is therule for harmonical division: Which proves, that true proportion cannot beperfectlydetermined by an arbitraryScale of parts, unless it should happen,(as it never yet has,) that the Scale should be measur'd by any givenNumber, without leaving a remainder.The diagram is too Clear to want an Explanation:be pleasd only to observe.that locks of hair may be determined. as to Magnitude and Situation; by thesame rule.'

    leg has been copied, in reverse and with some exaggeration ofits dryness and lack of fluency, from an engraving by JohnVardy after Hussey's design; an impression is in the BritishMuseum4 (Figs.61 and 62).As early as 1745Vertue recorded that: 'Hogarth (in opposi-tion to Hussey scheem of Triangles) much comments on theinimitable curve or beauty of the S undulating motion line'.5The 'scheem', outlined at length in a series of letters,6 involveda minutely detailed system of 'harmonic' proportions, bymeans of which Hussey determined to improve upon his mod-els, whether taken from the antique or from life. The method,with its scales of measurements and geometrical figures, isdemonstrated in a number of austere outline drawings in theBritish Museum.7 Nothing could be less Hogarthian.In spite of a promising beginning as a student of drawing atthe Academy in Bologna, Hussey failed to attract sufficientpatronage in London: according to an early biographer, hewas reduced to earning 'the scantiest meals by no other means

    4 Department of Prints and Drawings, 1917-12-8-3175.5 GEORGEVERTUE:Notebooks,Vol.III (WalpoleSociety, Vol.XXII), Oxford[1934], p.126.6 The earliest known of Hussey's letters, dated December 1756 and addressedto Robert Bateman Wray, a gem engraver of Salisbury, on the art of seal-engraving and 'the physiognomy of the antient gods', was published in theMonthlyMagazine, [October 1799], and in WILLIAM . WHITLEY: Artists ndtheirFriends n England,1700-1799,London [1928], pp.128-29. A second, hithertounpublished, letter to Wray in the British Museum, Department of Prints andDrawings (c.198* a.8), is dated May 1759:'The Character of Alexander, being the greatest, which has been foundamongst the fragmentsof Antiquity. I thought proper to send you the Profil,which I drew at Rome, by a transparent edium,with all its measures, set toan Harmonical Scale; by which it will appear that the Sculptor, either hadnot a sufficient knowledge of proportion;or did not choose to employ it onthat Subject. I am inclined to believe, from the nature of the inaccuracy's, inthe best productions of the Antients, that they were little acquainted withthe harmonical relations, or concordance of Numbers, and therefore noAntient work can be produced, which may not be considerably improved,Without deviating from the character intended by the artist.I have endeavour'd to convince you of this truth, by the profilcontaind inthis sheet, Wch s set to the same Scale, as the fragment is, and seems to me

    to have a more Regal aspect, derived froman alteration of numbers, whichin the original I judged to be less perfect, as being more remote, from theprimary concordances to which all our Ideas of proportion ought to tend,and in which they finally terminate.Now the primary concdrdances are: as I is to 2Between Which there are many 2 to 3harmonical means. which are found 3 to 4 Bestarithmetically, by addition of the 4 to 5extreams. 5 to 66 to 7 Indifferent7 to 8Thus if a line be divided into 2 parts, and again into 3, and a mean isrequired between the 3d, and half, mark the numbers thus 1/2as fractions of the whole, Mean 2/5then say 2 & 3 is 5 1/3and twice one is 2.that is, 2/5 of the whole like is the harmonical mean Sought. in like manner

    if between 2/5ths and 1/3d another mean was required, add 3 and 5. and 1and 2 togeather, and youl have 3/8 of the whole line. This in General is therule for harmonical division: Which proves, that true proportion cannot beperfectlydetermined by an arbitraryScale of parts, unless it should happen,(as it never yet has,) that the Scale should be measur'd by any givenNumber, without leaving a remainder.The diagram is too Clear to want an Explanation:be pleasd only to observe.that locks of hair may be determined. as to Magnitude and Situation; by thesame rule.'In a third letter to Wray, dated 29th September 1759 and kept in the samealbum, Hussey countered 'an objection which some Conoisseurs have made tothe fillet' about a head of Alexander the Great on an engraved gem. A letterdated May 1759, published in the MonthlyMagazine n December 1799, con-cerns a system of colours corresponding to musical notation based on New-ton's Optics.Letters on Hussey's theories of harmonic proportions to 'MrHuddleston of Shaftesbury', dated 5th February 1779, and to 'a friend',dated28thJuly 1785, appear in JOHN HUTCHINS: The History and Antiquities of the Countyof Dorset,3rd ed., Vol.IV, London [1873], pp.308-311.7Department of Prints and Drawings, c. 199.b.10.

    In a third letter to Wray, dated 29th September 1759 and kept in the samealbum, Hussey countered 'an objection which some Conoisseurs have made tothe fillet' about a head of Alexander the Great on an engraved gem. A letterdated May 1759, published in the MonthlyMagazine n December 1799, con-cerns a system of colours corresponding to musical notation based on New-ton's Optics.Letters on Hussey's theories of harmonic proportions to 'MrHuddleston of Shaftesbury', dated 5th February 1779, and to 'a friend',dated28thJuly 1785, appear in JOHN HUTCHINS: The History and Antiquities of the Countyof Dorset,3rd ed., Vol.IV, London [1873], pp.308-311.7Department of Prints and Drawings, c. 199.b.10. 333

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    SHORTER NOTICESHORTER NOTICESbut making copies from a likeness he had taken of the Pretenderwhen at Rome'.8James Barry, who shared an admiration forHussey with Benjamin West,9 blamed this lack of success onintrigues by fellow artists. He wrote in 1769: 'I am loth tomention Hogarth, though his memory ought to be blamed forhis ungenerous treatment of my poor Hussey'.'1 The discoveryof Hogarth's jibe at Hussey in the Analysis suggests thatBarry's accusation may not have been wholly without founda-tion.8JOHNBRITTON:TheBeauties f Wiltshire,Vol.I, London [1801], p.291.9 An album of drawings by Hussey at the Yale Center for British Art isinscribed, in a hand of c. 1800, 'selected by Benj. West' (information fromBruce Robertson). West bought a number of drawings by Hussey at MatthewDuane's Sale (Greenwood's,24th-25th May 1785 (LUGT, No.3891), Lots 74, 75and 95) and was said to have pronounced them 'as specimens of extraordinaryexcellence, and of truly Grecian elegance, taste and beauty' (FRANCISWEBB:Panharmonicon,ondon [1815], p.10).10JAMES BARRY:Works,Vol.I, London [1809], p.171. (See also Index, Vol.II,for further references to Hussey.)

    Goya'sallegories ndthesphinxes:'Commerce','Agriculture', Industry' nd'Science' n situ*

    but making copies from a likeness he had taken of the Pretenderwhen at Rome'.8James Barry, who shared an admiration forHussey with Benjamin West,9 blamed this lack of success onintrigues by fellow artists. He wrote in 1769: 'I am loth tomention Hogarth, though his memory ought to be blamed forhis ungenerous treatment of my poor Hussey'.'1 The discoveryof Hogarth's jibe at Hussey in the Analysis suggests thatBarry's accusation may not have been wholly without founda-tion.8JOHNBRITTON:TheBeauties f Wiltshire,Vol.I, London [1801], p.291.9 An album of drawings by Hussey at the Yale Center for British Art isinscribed, in a hand of c. 1800, 'selected by Benj. West' (information fromBruce Robertson). West bought a number of drawings by Hussey at MatthewDuane's Sale (Greenwood's,24th-25th May 1785 (LUGT, No.3891), Lots 74, 75and 95) and was said to have pronounced them 'as specimens of extraordinaryexcellence, and of truly Grecian elegance, taste and beauty' (FRANCISWEBB:Panharmonicon,ondon [1815], p.10).10JAMES BARRY:Works,Vol.I, London [1809], p.171. (See also Index, Vol.II,for further references to Hussey.)

    Goya'sallegories ndthesphinxes:'Commerce','Agriculture', Industry' nd'Science' n situ*

    of great significance in serving to clarify these points (Figs.63-66). Moreno's photographs in addition unexpectedly expose anovel and revealing vision of Goya's tondos in their originaldecorative as well as architectural setting. Furthermore, thephotos, studied in conjunction with supporting documentaryevidence concerning the renovation of Godoy's palace, permnitthe proposal of a new, slightly later date for the tondos thenhas been assigned to them in the past.The initial disclosure presented by the photographs is thateach of the tondos was located in the central portion of alunette,6 the side areas of which were embellished by frescoesof heraldically positioned sphinxes amid swirling tendrils.7This unaccustomed juxtaposition of Goya's direct, realistic,and symbolic but legible imagery8with fancifuland exotic butsuperficial Pompeian decorations, fashionable in Spain aselsewhere in Europe in the late eighteenth and earlynineteenth centuries,9 is certainly startling at first glance.Nonetheless, tondos and sphinxes were contemporaneous cre-ations, intended to be seen together.A visit to the remaining portion of the building, whichserved as Godoys Madrid residence from 1792-1808,10 affordsanother surprise: lunettes and shpinx frescoes exist intacttoday1l with apparently no modification from the pre-1932moment when photographed by Moreno.12 The small dome

    of great significance in serving to clarify these points (Figs.63-66). Moreno's photographs in addition unexpectedly expose anovel and revealing vision of Goya's tondos in their originaldecorative as well as architectural setting. Furthermore, thephotos, studied in conjunction with supporting documentaryevidence concerning the renovation of Godoy's palace, permnitthe proposal of a new, slightly later date for the tondos thenhas been assigned to them in the past.The initial disclosure presented by the photographs is thateach of the tondos was located in the central portion of alunette,6 the side areas of which were embellished by frescoesof heraldically positioned sphinxes amid swirling tendrils.7This unaccustomed juxtaposition of Goya's direct, realistic,and symbolic but legible imagery8with fancifuland exotic butsuperficial Pompeian decorations, fashionable in Spain aselsewhere in Europe in the late eighteenth and earlynineteenth centuries,9 is certainly startling at first glance.Nonetheless, tondos and sphinxes were contemporaneous cre-ations, intended to be seen together.A visit to the remaining portion of the building, whichserved as Godoys Madrid residence from 1792-1808,10 affordsanother surprise: lunettes and shpinx frescoes exist intacttoday1l with apparently no modification from the pre-1932moment when photographed by Moreno.12 The small dome

    BY ISADORAROSE-DEVIEJOY ISADORAROSE-DEVIEJORegios alonesdiscurriendofuimos,onde apompadel Orientebrilla. . .1GOYA'S three circular allegorical tempera-on-canvas paintingsof Commerce,Agricultureand Industry,executed for ManuelGodoy's Madrid palace, were transferred to the PradoMuseum directly from their original locations fifty-one yearsago.2 Through display in the museum and in numerous pub-lished photographic reproductions, they have become familiarimages, framed by simple carved and gilded mouldings. Whilethere has never been any doubt as to their provenance, a gooddeal of confusion has existed concerning their positions withinthe palace. Traditionally, they were believed to have beenlocated on the ceiling of Godoy's library,3 but as recently as1970 it was asserted that they had decorated the grand stair-case.4 Consequently, a group of recently rediscovered photo-graphs taken by Jose Moreno showing the paintings in situ5 is

    *This Shorter Notice is dedicated to the memory of Dr Xavier de Salas,teacher and friend.1 CASIANO PELLICER: El Temploel BuenGusto BreveDescripcione a Biblioteca elExc.m? efiorPrincipede la Paz, Madrid [1803], p.6. This panegyric is largelyimaginative and is not a reliable description of Godoy's palace and library.2 Nos. 2546, 2547 and 2548 were taken to the Prado in 1932. See MuseodelPrado,Catdlogo e las Pinturas,Madrid [1972], pp.285-86.3 From at least Yriarte's day (c. YRIARTE: Goya.Sa Biographie,esJresques,estoiles, es eaux-fortest le Catalogue e l'OEuvre, aris [1867], p.127, it has beenrepeatedly stated that the tondo salon was Godoy's library. This confusionarose because the room was converted into a library sometime after 1814following Godoy's exile and the Napoleonic wars, when the building belongedto the Ministerio e la Marina.4j. GUDIOL, Goya,4 vols., Barcelona [1970], Vol. I, p.300.5 Located in the photographic archive of the Frick Art Reference Library(New York), these photographs, probably dating from the 1920s, were part ofa group of 400 purchased from Moreno by the Frick between 1927 and 1933(verbal communication from Ms Helen Sanger, Librarian at the Frick, afterchecking the photograph purchase records).34

    Regios alonesdiscurriendofuimos,onde apompadel Orientebrilla. . .1GOYA'S three circular allegorical tempera-on-canvas paintingsof Commerce,Agricultureand Industry,executed for ManuelGodoy's Madrid palace, were transferred to the PradoMuseum directly from their original locations fifty-one yearsago.2 Through display in the museum and in numerous pub-lished photographic reproductions, they have become familiarimages, framed by simple carved and gilded mouldings. Whilethere has never been any doubt as to their provenance, a gooddeal of confusion has existed concerning their positions withinthe palace. Traditionally, they were believed to have beenlocated on the ceiling of Godoy's library,3 but as recently as1970 it was asserted that they had decorated the grand stair-case.4 Consequently, a group of recently rediscovered photo-graphs taken by Jose Moreno showing the paintings in situ5 is

    *This Shorter Notice is dedicated to the memory of Dr Xavier de Salas,teacher and friend.1 CASIANO PELLICER: El Temploel BuenGusto BreveDescripcione a Biblioteca elExc.m? efiorPrincipede la Paz, Madrid [1803], p.6. This panegyric is largelyimaginative and is not a reliable description of Godoy's palace and library.2 Nos. 2546, 2547 and 2548 were taken to the Prado in 1932. See MuseodelPrado,Catdlogo e las Pinturas,Madrid [1972], pp.285-86.3 From at least Yriarte's day (c. YRIARTE: Goya.Sa Biographie,esJresques,estoiles, es eaux-fortest le Catalogue e l'OEuvre, aris [1867], p.127, it has beenrepeatedly stated that the tondo salon was Godoy's library. This confusionarose because the room was converted into a library sometime after 1814following Godoy's exile and the Napoleonic wars, when the building belongedto the Ministerio e la Marina.4j. GUDIOL, Goya,4 vols., Barcelona [1970], Vol. I, p.300.5 Located in the photographic archive of the Frick Art Reference Library(New York), these photographs, probably dating from the 1920s, were part ofa group of 400 purchased from Moreno by the Frick between 1927 and 1933(verbal communication from Ms Helen Sanger, Librarian at the Frick, afterchecking the photograph purchase records).34

    6 The placing of the tondos within lunettes explains their circular shape,extremely unusual in Goya's auvre.7 A. DE BERUETE Y MORET: Goya.Composicionesyiguras,Madrid 1917],p.72,saw the tondos insitu and mentioned the lunettes and sphinxes, but dismissedthe frescoes, saying they were 'sin importancia, obra sin duda de algunartistaindustrial inpretensiones'.8 The uncomplicated nature of these allegories was noted by F. J. SANCHEZ-CANT6N: 'La Elaboraci6nde un cuadro de Goya', Archivo spaioldeArte[1945],pp.301-02.9 Sphinxes, medallions and garlands were frequent companions in lateeighteenth- and early nineteenth-century neo-classical ornament. Godoy'sSpanish artists would have consulted contemporaryFrench and Italian bookson antiquities and design motifs, such as the influential Le PittureAntichediErcolano, Vols., Naples [1757-62], published by orderof Carlos III; COMTEDECAYLUS: Recueil 'Antiquitesgyptiennes,trusques,recquestromaines, Vols., Paris[1756-67], in the library of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fer-nando in Madrid prior to 1800, according to c. BEDAT: L'Academieesbeaux-artsde Madrid 1744-1808,Toulouse [1974], p.266; M. TESI: Raccoltadi D)isegnoOriginale i .MauroTesi,Bologna [1787]; LA LONDE: Oeuvres iverses e La Londe,Paris [1780]; and the slightly later compilation by c. PERCIER and P. F. L.FONTAINE: Recueil e Decorationsnterieures. ., Paris [1812], Pls. 14 and 62, TheGreek sphinx type was used in Godoy's palace as opposed to the Egyptiantype, which was also employed decoratively in pre- and post-NapoleonicEurope. SeeJ. LORING: 'Egyptomania:The Nile Style', ConnoisseurFeb. 1979],pp.114-21; H. DEMISCH:Die Sphinx . , Stuttgart [1977]; and J. s. CURL:TheEgyptianRevival....., London [1982].10 This building has had a long and complicated history, and almost as manynames as uses since it was constructed in 1776 as the official residence of thePrime Minister, then the Marques de Grimaldi. Situated on the cornerof thecalle Bailen and the Plaza de la Marina Espanola, among its many nameshave been: Casa de los Ministros, Casa-Palacio contiguo a Doia Maria deArag6n, Almirantazgo, Ministerio de la Marina, Casa de los Ministerios,Consejo Nacional del Movimiento, Museo del Pueblo Espanol, and currently,Centro de Estudios Constitucionales de la Presidencia del Gobierno. Drasti-cally reduced in size earlier in this century due to the widening of the calleBailen, it is sometimes confusedwith the Palaciode Buenavista, located on thePaseo del Prado, given to Godoy by the Ayuntamiento de Madrid in 1807,andin use as the Ministerio del Ejercito for well over a century.11I wish to thank D. Alfredo Perez de Armiiinn, Director General del Pat-rimonioArtisticodel Ministeriode la Cultura (in 1979), forhaving granted mepermission to visit this building, and to the staff of the Centro de EstudiosConstitucionales, especially D. Manuel Arag6n, for having allowed me toexamine the frescoes unhurriedly.12 There is, however, a strong possibility that the frescoes were restored atsome point prior to 1932. For example, it is known that there was a massivefire in the building on the night of 29th-30th November 1846, at which timethey could have been damaged. See P. MADOZ: Iiccionario Geografico-Estadistico-Historico,adrid [1850], Vol. X, p.748.

    6 The placing of the tondos within lunettes explains their circular shape,extremely unusual in Goya's auvre.7 A. DE BERUETE Y MORET: Goya.Composicionesyiguras,Madrid 1917],p.72,saw the tondos insitu and mentioned the lunettes and sphinxes, but dismissedthe frescoes, saying they were 'sin importancia, obra sin duda de algunartistaindustrial inpretensiones'.8 The uncomplicated nature of these allegories was noted by F. J. SANCHEZ-CANT6N: 'La Elaboraci6nde un cuadro de Goya', Archivo spaioldeArte[1945],pp.301-02.9 Sphinxes, medallions and garlands were frequent companions in lateeighteenth- and early nineteenth-century neo-classical ornament. Godoy'sSpanish artists would have consulted contemporaryFrench and Italian bookson antiquities and design motifs, such as the influential Le PittureAntichediErcolano, Vols., Naples [1757-62], published by orderof Carlos III; COMTEDECAYLUS: Recueil 'Antiquitesgyptiennes,trusques,recquestromaines, Vols., Paris[1756-67], in the library of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fer-nando in Madrid prior to 1800, according to c. BEDAT: L'Academieesbeaux-artsde Madrid 1744-1808,Toulouse [1974], p.266; M. TESI: Raccoltadi D)isegnoOriginale i .MauroTesi,Bologna [1787]; LA LONDE: Oeuvres iverses e La Londe,Paris [1780]; and the slightly later compilation by c. PERCIER and P. F. L.FONTAINE: Recueil e Decorationsnterieures. ., Paris [1812], Pls. 14 and 62, TheGreek sphinx type was used in Godoy's palace as opposed to the Egyptiantype, which was also employed decoratively in pre- and post-NapoleonicEurope. SeeJ. LORING: 'Egyptomania:The Nile Style', ConnoisseurFeb. 1979],pp.114-21; H. DEMISCH:Die Sphinx . , Stuttgart [1977]; and J. s. CURL:TheEgyptianRevival....., London [1982].10 This building has had a long and complicated history, and almost as manynames as uses since it was constructed in 1776 as the official residence of thePrime Minister, then the Marques de Grimaldi. Situated on the cornerof thecalle Bailen and the Plaza de la Marina Espanola, among its many nameshave been: Casa de los Ministros, Casa-Palacio contiguo a Doia Maria deArag6n, Almirantazgo, Ministerio de la Marina, Casa de los Ministerios,Consejo Nacional del Movimiento, Museo del Pueblo Espanol, and currently,Centro de Estudios Constitucionales de la Presidencia del Gobierno. Drasti-cally reduced in size earlier in this century due to the widening of the calleBailen, it is sometimes confusedwith the Palaciode Buenavista, located on thePaseo del Prado, given to Godoy by the Ayuntamiento de Madrid in 1807,andin use as the Ministerio del Ejercito for well over a century.11I wish to thank D. Alfredo Perez de Armiiinn, Director General del Pat-rimonioArtisticodel Ministeriode la Cultura (in 1979), forhaving granted mepermission to visit this building, and to the staff of the Centro de EstudiosConstitucionales, especially D. Manuel Arag6n, for having allowed me toexamine the frescoes unhurriedly.12 There is, however, a strong possibility that the frescoes were restored atsome point prior to 1932. For example, it is known that there was a massivefire in the building on the night of 29th-30th November 1846, at which timethey could have been damaged. See P. MADOZ: Iiccionario Geografico-Estadistico-Historico,adrid [1850], Vol. X, p.748.