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Arts & Communication Spanish art and its enemies

art, established by Palomino in the 18 century and Stirling and Director of Research at the School of Philosophical,
th
Maxwell in the 19 , offered particular views of a particular Historical, and Interdisciplinary Studies at the University
th
artistic style within one particular nation. These views have of Essex, Colchester, Essex, United Kingdom, who
arguably remained influential over the past two centuries. commented on my text and whose knowledge of the period
However, the assumptions about Spanish art established by was of great value.
these two writers are nebulous and imprecise. Dissenting
voices and religious and political pre-judices have divided Funding
opinions, transforming the limited view of Spanish art None.
through exhibitions, museum displays, and academic
courses into a slightly more adventurous discipline. Conflict of interest
Francisco Goya has been censured as a purveyor of The author declares no competing interests.
horror, as were his artistic antecedents from the Golden Age
of Spanish painting. In northern Europe, and particularly Author contributions
in Britain, the suspicion of Spanish Catholic art survives, This is a single-authored manuscript.
often as an invitation to distaste. This sentiment even
accompanies moments when it would seem that the aim Ethics approval and consent to participate
is to praise and display the exceptional qualities of the
Spanish school. Not applicable.
Art historians have used Goya’s art for their own interests Consent for publication
in concepts of transgression, and one describes it as a
“litany of esthetic outrage.” 32(p.490) Few would have realized Not applicable.
how valuable these concepts of outrage and transgression Availability of data
could have become in England with the rise of the Young
British Artists in the 1990s. Occasional references to the Not applicable.
art of Goya or sculptural images of saints and martyrs in Further disclosure
crime novels or horror films might seem like nothing more
than a convenient and essentially commercial exploitation This article is an extended version of a paper titled Nigel
of artistic imagery known for its disturbing subject matter. Glendinning and the Hispanic Research Journal, Visual Arts
However, behind this apparently impartial borrowing Issue, presented at the conference “Canons and Repertoires:
of an image to accentuate the drama of the moment lies Constructing the Visual Arts in the Hispanic World,”
centuries of hostile reactions, counterbalanced by the new held at the University of Durham, United Kingdom, on
developments of contemporary themes. June 20 – 21, 2019.

The pessimism and rebarbative imagery of much
recent art in Britain have fueled British admiration for this References
th
18 -century Spaniard, whose work has, in some instances, 1. Lubbock T. The Sacred Made Real. The Independent; 2009.
come to be associated with expressions of the infernal and 2. Dudley S. Conferring with the dead: Necrophilia and
the mortal. Similar interests also focus on earlier Spanish nostalgia in the seventeenth century. Engl Lit Hist.
art, which both attracted and repelled British spectators. 1999;66(2):277-299.
Seeking out a transgressive understanding of the modern 3. Searle A. Torture and Transcendence at the National Gallery’s
self, British painters, sculptors, and printmakers, such Sacred Made Real. The Guardian; 2009.
as the Chapman brothers, investigated the potentially
shocking forms of self-awareness and performed a vital 4. Barker F. The Tremulous Private Body: Essays on Subjection.
function for British society by highlighting aspects of life Methuen: University of Michigan Press; 1984.
often masked by taboos, repression, and denial. 5. Gayford M. The Sacred Made Real at the National Gallery.
The Telegraph; 2009.
Acknowledgments
6. Trusted M. Art for the masses: Spanish sculpture in the
I would like to acknowledge the help of Xanthe Brooke, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In: Hughes A, Ranfft E,
Curator Emerita of continental European art at the Walker editors. Sculpture and Its Reproductions. United Kingdom:
Art Gallery, Liverpool, United Kingdom, for drawing my Reaktion Books; 1997. p. 46.
attention to the material I had neglected. Thanks must 7. Owens ME, Webster J. Tussaud laureate: The waxworks in
also go to Dr. Natasha Ruiz-Gomez, Senior Lecturer the duchess of Malfi. Engl Lit Hist. 2012;70(4):851-877.

Volume 3 Issue 2 (2025) 10 doi: 10.36922/ac.3604