Evening star., 1941-12-07
Goya Shows Another Side in Portrait
Recently Given to National Gallery
Spanish Artist Is
Represented by
Four Paintings
By Leila MechHn.

hIlOtliCI painting by 1iuASAoSo
Goya has been added to the Ma
tional Gallery of Art. 1t is por-
trait of Don Bartolome Sureda and
was the gift of Mr.. and Mrs. P, H. B
Frelinghuysen, in memory OF Mrs.
Frelinghuysen's parents, Mr.. and
Mrs. H. o. Havemeyer.
There were already four paint
tngs by this distinguished Spanish
painter and printmaker in the Ma
tional Gallery. all derived from the
Mellon collection; but Goya was
many-sided, and this portrait OF
his confrere illustrates phase OF
his work heretofore not represented.
Certainly in spirit and style 1t Is
quite unlike the two life-size por-
traits OF women-Senora Sabasa
Garcia and the Marquesa de Ponte-
jos-acquired by Andrew w. Mellon
and now In the National Gallery.
Goya is reported to have said. Il
have had three masters. Nature.
VelasQuez and Rembrandt But
there was a fourth, jacques Louis
David, with whom he fraternized in
Rome in his young days after fleeing
from Spain to escape the 1nqulsi-
ton. 1t is the influence of this
fourth master that may be seen in
the portrait from the Eavemeyer-
Frelinghuysen collection. Compare
It. for instance, with David's lovely
painting Of Nine. Hamelin, in the
group lent recently by Mr.. and Mrs.
Chester Dale. and note the similar
ity OF line and its use, the gravity
of treatment, the reticence OF brush
stroke and a certain dropping pen
siveness in face of figure. Goya was
in Rome in the early 1770S, and the
portrait of Don Bartolome was not
painted until about 80 years later.
but the impression of Davids style
then registered is obviously still
poignant.
Spanish Flavor.
The portrait OF Sonora Sabasa
Garcia has certain points IN COM
mon with that of Sureda-the heavy
color used, the markedly Spanish
flavor. the hair struggling over the
forehead. the dark and non-trans-
parent background-but the infiu-
ence of Velasquez is uppermost.
If the supposition that it was paint
ed before 1903 is correct, and doubt
less it is. then there were not many
wears between 1t and the Sureda.
The real gap therefore would seem
to be between them and the full
length of the MarQuesa de Pontejos.
painted 1785-l790, when Goya was
designing tapestries for the Royal
Works, and done in higher KEY
and more lightly. It is this portrait
which links the great art of the
past with that of the present. OBJ
viously, however. the artist was not
conscious of sowing the seeds OF
revolution, but rather was intent
upon pleasing himself and others.
Goya was tempestous by nature,
and more than once came near los
ing his life through indiscretion. He
was loyal to none, but always true
to his art. Charles w made him
court painter. but during the French
occupation, 1808-l813. Goya lived
peaceably with Spain's enemies, and,
incidentally. did some Of his best
painting. Then. when Ferdinand
resumed the throne, in 1914, one of
his first acts was to re-create Goya,
Painter to the Crown" or Spanish
Court. But Goya was enormously
gifted, and his services were valu-
able. 1t pleased the vanity to have
a portrait by Goya. Also-even
more, perhaps. than was then
gave Immortality.
There must have been bright
era in Spain about the time that
Goya painted Don Bartolome, for
the industrial arts were surging
ahead and the graphic arts coming
into their own by discovery and
practice. TYPOGRAPHY had lately
been discovered by Senefelder, and,
a bit later, aquatint came into be-
ing. Goya used both. and with su-
preme skill. but Don Bartolome was,
it is said, eight years ahead of him
in the practice of the former as
medium for personal expression.
Hat in Hand.
AS Goya painted him. Sureda does
not look like a foreceful person. He
Is pictured at about half length,
standing with his right arm rest
ing on a high table or other sup
port of dark wood, his high hat
In his hand. the inside of which is
turned toward the observer. His
left hand is on his hip and his arm
akimbo. He wears double-breast-
ed coat of dark gray, cut short at
the Waistline, but with long and am
pie skirt. There are large lapels on
his coat, as we'll as velvet collar.
A white neckcloth comes up high
under his chin and is tied in front.
A thread of red runs through the
and one of blue through
the white of the waistcoat. The face
is swarthy, the eyes dark; over the
forehead straggles his long brown
hair. The expression is introspec-
tive, the attitude one of Difference
and attention. The line OF the body
suggests motion, but the figure is
really very still. AS composition,
1t is extremely interesting. That the
artist has re-echoed the color of
the face in that of the lining of the
hat is worth noting, for it is an
extraordinary clever stroke. Such
things do not just happen.
There is probably no name in art
better to conjure with than that of
Goya. Born in 1746, of humble
peasant parentage, he had no con-
facts with art, save in his church,
and no instruction until after he
was 16, when he made up his mind
to be an artist The 80 years of his
life spanned tumultuous times: in
Spain, the art of painting was at
q low ebb, but the pictures he
painted and the prints he produced
are counted among the worlds
greatest.
"Goya," said Carroll Carstairs in
an essay on this master, quoted in
a catalogue of a Goya exhibition
held in New York a few years ago,
is the nervous pulse in the history
of time. Through him, you get its
rhythm and its tempo. He paints
his period in its true colors. He
II f.