More about The Family of Carlos IV
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Francisco Goya shows his true feelings about the royal family in Charles IV of Spain and His Family
Art critic Théophile Gautier described the figures as looking like 'the corner baker and his wife after they won the lottery.' Clearly Goya did not apply any pre-Photoshop techniques to his homely subjects.
Queen Louisa wore the real pants in the empire. The King preferred to spend his days hunting, leaving his wife to appoint her lovers to office.
Goya attempted to compose this portrait in such a way to suggest the royal family just happened to come around the studio and he spontaneously painted them. And in the back corner, a portrait of himself.
The painting behind the family depicts the story of Lot and his daughters (Genesis 19:30-38), where Lot’s daughters get their father drunk and rape him so they can carry his children…
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Here is what Wikipedia says about Charles IV of Spain and His Family
Charles IV of Spain and His Family is an oil-on-canvas group portrait painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. He began work on the painting in 1800, shortly after he became First Chamber Painter to the royal family, and completed it in the summer of 1801.
The portrait features life-sized depictions of Charles IV of Spain and his family, ostentatiously dressed in fine costume and jewelry. Foremost in the painting are Charles IV and his wife, Maria Luisa of Parma, who are surrounded by their children and relatives. The family are dressed in the height of contemporary fashionable clothing and lavishly adorned with jewelry and the sashes of the order of Charles III.
The painting was modeled after Louis-Michel van Loo's 1743 Portrait of Felipe V and his Family and Velázquez's Las Meninas, setting the royal subjects in a similarly naturalistic setting as they pose for the artist who is visible at his easel at the left of the canvas.
Check out the full Wikipedia article about Charles IV of Spain and His Family
