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Decadence and Despotism. Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Spain. The Seventeenth Century: During the seventeenth century - the Baroque century - Europe suffered a profound cri-sis in which Spain played an important part. The Spanish state lost its military hegemony over other continental powers (especially England); it was forced repeatedly to declare bankruptcy, thereby making the borrowing of monies even more expensive; and there were movements within the country that wanted to destroy the unity achieved by earlier monarchs. Despite the hard economic and social times, art continued to flourish and reached its peak in this second creative and original phase of the Siglo de Oro, called the Baroque. The Baroque: The Baroque was a period in which the Renaissance characteristics in all art forms of art were exaggerated and extended. It took root in all aspects of Spanish culture. Baroque art sub-stituted classical Renaissance serenity with movement and decorative profusion. Painters sought to illustrate tenebrismo, the contrasts of light and shadow (also known by its Italian name chia-roscuro). Authors used language to create the same complicated world of movement and contra-dictions in their use of obscure vocabulary often based on Latin or Greek (called culteranismo) or in their reliance on imagery and symbolism (called conceptismo) to express their ideas . Political authoritarianism continued and the monarchy asserted itself as the protector of the Catholic faith. In defense of Catholicism, the Papacy, the Empire and religious orthodoxy, Spain came into conflict with other European Protestant nations and lost much of its territories in northern Europe. The costs of operating the central government was high and ever increasing as the ex-penses involved in running an empire augmented and more and more nobles came to Madrid seeking a living or at least the free board the king owed them as his courtiers. Felipe IV’s válido, a sort of “First Minister” who ran the government for the king, the Count-Duke of Oli-vares, tried to impose a centralized form of government as well as a system by which all regions of the country would pay a share of these expenses but this reform was received with secession-ist’s threats from every part of the country. Carlos II, the last Hapsburg Spanish king, had to renounce these changes and recognize the traditional and separate powers of the regions. The Social Crisis: The economic problems inherited from the previous century with its prohibitive scheme of internal customs and the monopoly of Castile over trade with America that made prices ri-diculously high custom tarifsled to structural deficiencies and bankruptcy. During the Baroque period, this was exacerbated by other negative factors such as the undue support given by the state to the sheep owners of the mesta, the increase in the number of latifundios as land lost its value, and the expulsion of the moriscos which, over and above its inherent injustice, greatly reduced the number of skilled agricultural workers and craftsmen.

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Demography changed dramatically as many people, especially young men, left the countryside and moved to the growing urban centres to seek a living or emigrated to America. The number of clergyman and nuns increased rapidly as a means to a secure living for all classes of people. Cities such as Madrid and Seville grew too quickly to be able to house all these new arrivals. The country’s population decreased by some 800,000 inhabitants. The nobility and high ranking members of the clergy maintained their rights and privi-leges, most important among which was that they did not pay taxes, and the lower nobility, as in the previous century, continued to worry over their lack of a clearly defined role in society and their progressive impoverishment as they sold their family lands to earn some money so as to survive and maintain appearances. The concept of honor was a guiding principle of all social interaction among most Spaniards but it was carried to extreme limits by the rapidly impover-ished nobility who were obsessed by the fear of losing their status as their society went through a dramatic change. The drop in rural population made foodstuffs more expensive. The socially mobile urban middle class sought to improve their status by marrying into a noble family or by arranging socially advantageous marriages for their daughters in exchange for substantial dowries paid to the groom’s family. Beggars, thieves, prostitutes and other mar-ginalized individuals populated the towns and roads of Spain, living off charity, usually pro-vided by the church in the form of soup kitchens where a meal, the sopa boba, was available along with other alms. Religious and Political Thought: Despite the rigorous thought control exercised by the Inquisition, Spanish philosophers in the seventeenth century, intrigued by the need to find solutions to the country’s problems, continued in the rational vein seen in the previous century and which would ultimately connect them to the eighteenth-century enlightenment. They were preoccupied by Spain’s decadence, the “mal de España” (Spain’s illness), and proposed diverse theories and solutions to España como problema (Spain as a problem). One such thinker was Sancho de Moncada who suggested that the problem could be resolved by state mercantilism and protectionism; another was Fran-cisco de Quevedo who found answers in Erasmist thought. In his book España defendida y los tiempos de hoy (Spain Defended and the Problems of Today) he says: The men of Spain are satisfied to inherit virtue from their fathers without worrying

about what their sons will inherit. The power of money has reached, or is trying to reach, everywhere although the greed for gold was born with the Empire: when we were poor we conquered the wealth of others; now that we are rich the same wealth is conquering us ... (España defendida y los tiempos de hoy, Francisco de Quevedo.)

At the beginning of the century, most philosophers tended to favour traditional values but, by the end of the century, critiques were more pronounced. Saavedra Fajardo, for example, tried to reconcile his philosophy that the ruler must live and be governed by Christian ethics, common sense and political ability, with Machiavelli’s concept that everything, even morality, must be second to obtaining and consolidating the state. Saavedra Fajardo was a representative

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of a group of Spanish intellectuals, called los tácitos, after the Roman thinker Cornelio Tacitus, who, like Erasmus, tried to harmonize Christian morality with the concept of the modern state and achieve a freer and more egalitarian society. Civil science proscribes limits to the virtue of he who governs and he who

obeys. A minister must not be arbitrary but must always work within the law. The prince, the soul of justice, must particularly care for universal justice. The subject must never be without pity whereas in the prince it can be harmful. (Idea de un príncipe político-cristiano, Diego Saavedra Fajardo.)

All philosophers shared a common interest in rationalism and were followers of Eras-mus. Quevedo and others incorporated their political thoughts to their creative literature. Balta-sar Gracián, for example, saw life as a continuous battle by man between his behaviour and his destiny. Miguel de Molina, who was condemned by the Inquisition for the ideas expressed in his Guía espiritual (Spiritual Guide), proposed that a route to salvation might be found in qui-etismo - silence - and contemplation, an idea similar to that suggested earlier by the alumbrados or ilustrados and especially by Spanish mystics. There are two ways to reach God: one is by means of thought and discussion, the

other by the purity of faith, an idea that is not clear and causes confusion. The first way is called meditation whereas the second is internal or acquired meditation or contempla-tion. The first way is for beginners; the second for adepts. The first is tactile and materi-alist; the second is more naked, pure and internal. (Guía espiritual, Miguel de Molina.)

Culteranismo and Conceptismo: Baroque authors enriched and added sophistication to language by their use of words of Greek or Latin origin (culteranismo) and by inventing new words (neologismos), and by dwell-ing on new ways of thinking or expressing themselves, using symbolism, analogy or metaphor more widely than was ever done in Spanish literature (conceptismo). Both conceptismo and culteranismo were parts of a new wave in literature that sought to take advantage of all possible meanings of words and concepts. The authors who were more inclined towards culteranismo tended to express themselves in poetry where metaphoric and, at times, obscure language served them. Those who were interested in ideas rather than pure expression - the conceptistas - opted for prose where they could use precise language, although they too, at times, relied on rhetorical devices. Luis de Góngora (1561-1637) is the most representative of cultista poets. His two main works are Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea (Fable of Polifemo and Galatea) and Soledades

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(Solitudes) but he is also the author of many magnificent sonnets, ballads and short poems. For most modern readers, Góngora’s poetry is indecipherable because we no longer understand the lexical references. We must therefore rely on the prose interpretations that the modern Spanish scholar Dámaso Alonso provides: In the sweet season decked with vernal flowers, When the feigned bull that stole Europa’s love (Armed with the crescent moon upon his brow, His hide resplendent in the solar beams), The pride of heaven, seems Upon the stars of sapphire fields to graze, (Soledades, Luis de Góngora y Argote) Dámaso Alonso´s interpretation explains: in the florid season of the year in which the sun enters the sign of Taurus ( the sign of the Zodiac that reminds us of the trick transformation of Jupiter into a bull so that he might rape Europa). The sun enters Taurus in the month of April and then the heavenly bull (with his forehead armed with twin horns shaped like half moons, and shining and illuminated by the light of the sun, such that the rays of the sun reflect off the animal’s pelt) seems to be grazing on a field of stars on the sapphire blue field of the sky.

A portrait of Luis de Góngora by Velásquez. It now hangs in the Boston Museum.

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Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645) was the most important culteranista of the time. As one of Spain’s most varied authors, he wrote aesthetic, political and moralistic works as well as an important picaresque novel, Historia de la vida del Buscón llamado Don Pablos (Story of the Life of the Buscon Named Don Pablos), and much poetry. In his poetry, Quevedo plays with words and metaphors, makes the concepts or ideas more accessible and creates a very indi-vidualistic, personal style that frequently transcends the form of the poems. His humorous poem, A una nariz (to a nose) illustrates this: There was a man appended to a nose, a nose imposing like a towering hill, a beaker from a half-dead dripping still, a bent-beard swordfish never in repose. It was a sundial crooked as a crime, an elephant, its snout on high, a blur of nostrils on a scribe and executioner an Ovid Naso in his nosy prime. It was a galley’s pointed battering ram; it spread like an Egyptian pyramid and was twelve tribes of noses of a nation. It was a noseness grown ad nauseam, a mask, a Frisian archnose ugly as a squid, a fried and purple swollen ulceration. Traditional lyric poetry: The highly cultured poetry of the Baroque did not prevent the appearance of poetry that was faithful to traditional models and separate from the more popular style of the day. This po-etry was especially popular in Andalusia where Rodrigo Caro a famous poet who wrote Can-ción a las ruinas de Itálica (Song to the Ruins of Italica) that reads in part: Fabius, this region desolate and drear, these solitary fields, this shapeless mound were once Itálica, the far-renowned; for Scipio the might planted here his conquering colony, and now, o’er thrown, lie its once-dreaded walls of massive stone, sad relics, sad and vain of those invincible men. In Aragón the familiar styles and themes were also followed. The two Argensola broth-ers are perhaps the most important poets of that area at this time. They used satire and, like Caro, relied on historical and moralizing themes.

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The Picaresque Novel: The picaresque novel was born in the sixteenth century with Lazarillo de Tormes. This genre of novel is, nevertheless, eminently Baroque because it was much developed during this time period and because it reflects the dark and pessimistic underworld of a large segment of marginalized people in seventeenth-century Spain. The picaresque genre provides a serious so-cial critique of this period.

The cover of the first edition of La Vida del escudero Marcos de Obregón by Vicente Espinel, published in Barcelona in 1618. Espinel’s novel shares some characteristics of the picaresque novel but it is also very different because of its attitude and its poetic de-scriptions of nature.

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Unlike the anonymous author of the Lazarillo, Mateo Alemán chose an adult as the pro-tagonist of his novel, Guzmán de Alfarache, who nearly overcomes his circumstances by the use of lies and cheating. After many adventures that take him to Rome and to Holland, he is eventually discovered and punished, being condemned to the galleys - a sure death. The pícaro explains that he can be all things to all people: I repeat that everything as usual was a lie. For some I wanted to be a martyr and

with others a confessor. Not everything ought to be, nor can it be, communicated to everyone. In this way I never wanted to give a completely clear and public explanation of what I had done. I told some bits to some people and other bits to other people and always with some explanation. And, seeing as memory is so vital to the liar, today I told it one way and tomorrow another way, everything changes around as I said ...(Guzmán de Alfarache, Mateo Alemán.)

The novel ends with what might be a positive conclusion when the antihero seems to repent. Quevedo’s Buscón takes the pícaro even deeper into a world of degradation and despair. The last great picaresque novel, La vida del escudero Marcos de Obregón (The Life of the Squire Marcos de Obregon), by Vicente Espinel, presents a positive model for the pícaro. There are many other such novels that were written, often by authors who were exiled from Spain and therefore felt freer to comment on Spanish society, or by clerics who saw a didactic purpose in their work. Interestingly, many of the heroes, such as La Pícara Justina by López de Úbeda, present this world from a woman’s point of view. Drama: Drama was used as propaganda at the service of the dominant ideology that supported it. Comedy was very popular at this time because it was festive rather than profound, accepted so-cial values were not threatened or questioned and the audience was amused with love stories, mysteries, stories about confused identities, or historical stories taken from the romancero of earlier times. The creator of this new theatre was Lope de Vega (1562-1635) who continued in the line of Juan del Encina and Lope de Rueda. He is the author of at least 1,800 plays; his produc-tivity earned him the title of monstruo de la naturaleza (a monster of nature). His most famous plays are El caballero de Olmedo (The Knight of Olmedo), Peribañez o el comendador de Ocaña ( Peribañez or the Master of Ocaña), and Fuenteovejuna, plays that deal with his favour-ite topic of love and honour but which also critique dominant social mores. Lope was an inno-vator who gave much thought to the principles of drama which he outlined in his Arte nuevo (New Art). He reduced his plays to three acts rather than the traditional five, he maintained the unity of action but rejected the unities of time and place because of the limitations they imposed on authors by making them produce plays that took place in only twenty-four hours and in one place. Lope combined comic and tragic characters in his plays. Although he exclusively used verse in his plays, his dialogue is natural and credible. In El Caballero de Olmedo the hero is plagued by doubts and mysterious voices:

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So by night they killed, The noble knight, Glory of Medina, Flower of Olmedo. Alonso: Heaven protect me! What do I hear? If these warnings come from heaven, what are they trying to tell me now that I am here on the road? That I should urn back? But how can I? It’s all a trick of Fabia’s; Ines has begged her to keep me from going to Olmedo. Voice: Shades have warned him not to set out, they counseled him he should not go, the noble knight, glory of Medina, flower of Olmedo.

This anonymous portrait of Pedro Calderón de la Barca, which hangs in the Lázaro Galdiano Museum in Madrid, reveals the serenity and seriousness of the dramatist.

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Lope de Vega was also an epic and lyric poet, and the author of many romances and sonnets. He was responsible for a school of followers who added immensely to the world of the Spanish Baroque stage. One of his followers, Guillén de Castro, used the romancero to write two plays that deal with the medieval hero, El Cid and his wife, Jimena. Later these plays will be used by the French playwright Corneille for his play, Le Cid, and by generations of audiences who came to know of the epic hero exclusively through drama. The Mexican born playwright Ruiz de Alarcón was another follower of Lope de Vega although his themes are much more moralistic. The greatest Spanish dramatist of the Lope de Vega school was Tirso de Molina. As a cleric, whose real name was Gabriel Tellez, he was forced to use a pseudonym. His understand-ing of human nature - especially women - and his moral tones are perhaps a reflection of his education. He also dealt with historical and every day topics. In his most famous play, El Bur-lador de Sevilla (The Jokester of Seville), he gave life to the foremost Spanish character, Don Juan. Like the figure of El Cid, Don Juan will also reappear in Spanish and foreign literature. In the nineteenth century, Tirso de Molina’s play will have a sort of sequel in Zorilla’s Don Juan Tenorio. In his El condenado por desconfiado (Condemned for Lack of Confidence) Tirso de Molina considered the conflictive topic of faith and predestination. Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681), also a priest, also dealt with such profound intellectual topics in his theatre. La vida es sueño (Life is a Dream) has often been considered the most Baroque of all Spanish plays. Unlike other dramatists, Calderón did not follow in Lope de Vega’s footsteps although, like his contemporaries, he did deal with topics such as love and honour. This topic is beautifully expressed by Pedro Crespo in El alcalde de Zalamea (The Mayor of Zalamea):

Jusepe Leonardo’s view of El Palacio del Buen Retiro. This now hangs in the Historical and Municipal Mu-seum of Madrid.

10 Mayor of Zalamea: To the king, all goods and life itself are owed, but honour belongs to the soul and the soul is God’s alone

The statues of San Bruno, by Montañés (on the left), and San Francisco by Mena (on the right) are examples of how classical Renaissance sculpture led to emotive Baroque statuary. They are located in the Museum of Seville and the cathedral of Toledo, respectively.

Calderón de la Barca combined issues pertinent to conceptismo with the language of culteranismo that are best illustrated in his auto sacramentales (sacramental works) as allegori-cal religious plays based on topics such as the Eucharist. The work of Calderón de la Barca can be seen as the final triumph of Baroque art. His greatest play La Vida es Sueňo (Life is a Dream) summarizes his thoughts:

I dream I am bound with chains, And I dreamed that these present pains Were fortunate ways of old. What is life? A tale that is told; What is life? A frenzy extreme, A Shadow of things that seem; And the greatest good is but small, That all life is a dream to all, And that dreams themselves are a dream.

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Lyric Theatre: Lyric theatre was popular in Spain during the Baroque period. The first Spanish opera, La selva sin amor (The Forest Without Love), staged in 1629, was written by Lope de Vega with music by an unknown composer. The zarzuela was born at this time as the most charac-teristic form of Spanish musical theatre. Calderón de la Barca is the first known composer of zarzuelas. The term zarzuela comes from the Palace of the Zarzuela where the musicals were usually staged. The Palace of the Zarzuela is where the Spanish royal family now lives

On the left Murillo’s Inmaculada and on the right Zurbarán’s Aparición de Cristo al padre Salmerón (Appearance of Christ to Father Salmeron). Both hang in the sacristy of the Monastery of Guadalupe in Cáceres.

An unusual painting by Murillo where the figure of the woman spinning her thread is not idealized and beautified.

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whereas the Theatre of the Zarzuela is where these musicals can now be seen. Baroque Architecture and Painting: The fundamental principle of Baroque art was its ability to impress the spectator. To do this, movement, decoration and great size were used by the artists. Baroque architecture was late in reaching Spain because it was overshadowed by the impressive palace and monastery of El Escorial that builders sought to emulate in their struc-

El aguador de Sevilla (The Water Carrier of Seville) by Velásquez now hangs in the Wellington Collection in London, England.

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tures rather than try something new. Such was the case, for example, when the palace of the Buen Retiro was built, in the outskirts of Madrid, and where classical Renaissance proportions were followed. The combinations of chiaroscuro used by Alonso Cano in the facade of the ca-thedral of Granada, show the beginnings of Baroque decoration and ornamentation. Much later in the century, this excess of decoration will culminate in the churrigueresco style which antici-pates rococo style. In the churches, the seventeenth century was when polychrome imagery was at its best and was used to provoke deep impressions, especially religious fervour, in the people who saw the paintings and sculptures. Gregorio Fernández was a famous sculptor in Valladolid. His many statues, were part of the altar pieces (called pasos) used in Easter processions, especially his realistic and expressive figures of a suffering Christ figure. Martínez Montañés, was a Seville artist, in whose work, as the statue of San Bruno demonstrates, there is still the memory of classical serenity, as opposed

La Rendición de Breda or Las Lanzas (The Surrender of Breda or The Lances) by Velásquez. This painting hangs in the Prado Museum in Madrid. Painted in 1635 for the Palacio del Buen Retiro, it tells of how Ambro-sio Spinola received the keys to the town of Breda from Justino de Nassau.

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to Baroque patheticism. Montañés influenced the work of Cano, who taught Pedro de Mena. The dramatic changes from Renaissance to Baroque can easily be seen in their work. Spanish painting achieved extraordinary high quality during the Baroque period with paintings that are mostly religious and naturalistic with a marked preference for tenebrismo, the play of light and shadow. Many Spanish artists studied with the great Italian masters either in Italy or in Spain. As the Spanish kings were building and decorating their many palaces and ca-thedrals, master painters from all over Europe came to Spain to contribute their work.

In ictu oculi (In the Blink of an Eye) by Valdés Leal. This painting hangs in the Hospital Sevillano in Seville. Here the painter wants us to see how death can come and put an end to dreams of riches and honour.

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Naturalism is a distinctive characteristic of the paintings of Francisco de Zurbarán. The solem-nity yet simplicity of his compositions, as well as his serene spirituality combined with deep emotion have made him one of Spain’s great painters. Just as Zurbarán is especially recognized for his paintings of monks, his contemporary, Murillo, is the painter par excellence of the figure of the Virgin Mary where his emotions and tenderness towards her are paramount. She is de-picted as a young girl, a young mother, or a grieving mother with great tenderness and realism. Diego de Velásquez y Silva: Velásquez (1599-1660) is the most important Spanish painter of all times. Born in Seville, Velásquez studied painting there and, at a very early age, went to Madrid to seek fame and fortune. His talent quickly put him in touch with the most important court painters and he soon established himself at court as the painter, architect and friend of the king whom he would paint many times as well as the royal family. In his early paintings he is also interested in tene-brismo, as for example in the Aguador de Sevilla (The Water Carrier of Seville). After his trips to Italy, he eventually abandoned this technique in favour of multi-layered or combination paintings in which he combined mythological figures with scenes of everyday life (La fragua de Vulcano - Vulcan’s Forge - and La victoria de Bacco, - The victory of Bacchus - better known as Los borrachos - The Drunkards) with narrative intent or social commentary. His realism is a simplification of a complex and extraordinary concept of painting. Velásquez transcends mere representation in his psychological studies of kings, nobles, court jesters and paupers. He was also interested in optics and regularly used mirrors in his paintings as a way to describe the multiplicity of realities and perspectives. In Las Meninas, Velásquez brings the spectator into the room, along with the king and queen as they are seen in the mirror watching him paint a portrait of their daughter. In the Rendición de Breda (The Surrender of Breda) Velásquez shows how the victorious Spaniard receives the keys of the town from a de-feated Dutchman with all courtesy but the real story is told by the looks on the tired faces of the soldiers and, especially, in the smoky air over the burning city in the distance. Late Baroque Painting: Three painters from Andalusia close the Baroque period in Spanish art. Two we have already seen are Alonso Cano, who was a subtle colourist and maintained classical proportions, and Murillo, the painter of Virgins and genre scenes, such as the Vieja hilando (Old Lady Spin-ing). The third, Valdés Leal, is a theatrical painter who sought effects by his use of strange im-agery as he depicted the same philosophical problems that his contemporaries were dealing with in poetry and drama. The Eighteenth Century: Throughout the eighteenth century, traditional Spanish values were questioned and criti-cized by a dynamic intellectual minority. These ilustrados (enlightened men) worried about the decadence and ruin of Spain. Aided by the presence and enthusiasm of a new royal dynasty, the Bourbons, who had replaced the Hapsburgs once their line of descendants disappeared, these intellectuals wanted to reform the country despite the opposition of conservatives and tradition-alists.

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During the eighteenth century, the Spanish state tried once again to become active in international affairs where England and France were dominant. One of its main goals was to protect its American colonies from British imperialism. Another aim was to get the Spanish economy functioning and to put an end to years if not centuries of deficits. The improved economic situation allowed for an increase in the popu-lation such that, by the end of the century, Spain doubled its population. Artistically, Baroque styles survived until they were gradually replaced by Neoclassi-cism. This rebirth of classical styles was cold and academic. In literature, although French styles were being imitated as they reflected the interests of the ruling nobility, there was also a renewed interest in traditional, popular Spanish genres such as historical drama and the romancero. A New Dynasty: When Carlos II died, the Hapsburg dynasty died with him as he had produced no direct heir. In his will, he named his nephew Felipe of Anjou, the grandson of Louis XIV of France, to succeed him rather than the Archduke of Austria who also aspired to the Spanish throne. Carlos II did impose one condition: that the crowns of Spain and France never be joined. It was hoped that this condition would appease the other European governments who were afraid that the French and Spanish union might cause an imbalance of power in the continent. The French King, Louis XIV, in his grandson’s name, refused to accept this condition which led to the War of Spanish Succession. Felipe of Anjou became Felipe V of Spain, the first Bourbon monarch in Spain. With this foreign king came foreign attitudes to government. There was no longer any sympathy for regional or provincial autonomies such as the fueros of Valencia, Aragón and Barcelona were abolished and a unitary, centralized form of government was instituted. Despite this official change, however, many linguistic, cultural and regional rights were allowed as long as they did not come into conflict with the central power. Felipe V, an avid organizer, created a system of ministries which substituted the earlier consejos; he removed the little authority left to the Cortes; he imposed Castilian law on all the regions of Spain; and he transformed the vice-reigns in the colonies into capitanías generales (general captaincies). Enlightened Despotism: The ilustrados, in accordance with the government, put into effect a new system of gov-ernance called Enlightened despotism. By this they intended that unilaterally imposed reforms would foment culture, progress and liberty for all citizens. Their motto was: “Todo para el pueblo, pero sin el pueblo.” (“Everything for the people without the people”).

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The cover of Relación histórica del viaje a América meridional hecho de orden de S. Majestad (Historical Account of the Trip to America Under the Orders of His Majesty) by Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa. Madrid, 1748.

The programme of reforms was concentrated in two fundamental activities: the econ-omy and education. They enthusiastically attacked the problems in these sectors by applying rational decisions and no small amount of utopian idealism. State economic protectionism was replaced by liberalism. They sought to remove all impediments to the development of agriculture which had forced the country in previous centu-ries into nationwide hunger. The eighteenth-century thinkers were convinced that agriculture would bring wealth to the landowners and restore pride to those who made it grow. The diffi-culty they encountered was that most of the land - some seventy percent - belonged to people, mostly the nobility, who had no interest in the land and let it run fallow (bienes de manos muer-tas). The ilustrados therefore suggested agrarian reforms that would redistribute the land to those who were willing to work it. Needless to say, these reforms were not well received. Jovel-lanos, in his Informe sobre la ley agraria (Report on Agrarian Law) summarized the ideas of the ilustrados: Agriculture, … , justifiably demands help because the people who work the land have great interest in becoming co-owners and wanting to work for themselves and their children so as to better their fortune and the soil. This coming together of these two interests and two blocks of capital in one single goal will form the greatest stimuli that can be offered to agriculture. (El informe sobre la ley agraria, Jovellanos). An alternate solution to these unwelcome laws was a process of internal colonization by which unoccupied lands or marginal lands were reclaimed by groups of settlers brought there by the government or other groups. One such group in the Sierra Morena was organized by Olavide who planned an idyllic society of small landowners living in planned communities, much like some he had seen in America. Agrarian reforms continue to be a source of social friction even today in Spain where pos-sibly productive lands are kept fallow by land-owners who use them once a year for hunting. Other economic problems were dealt with along liberal laissez-faire principles. In-ternal customs were abolished, the Castilian monopoly with America was banned and there was an attempt to suppress trade guilds. These changes pleased the growing bourgeois class who began to invest in many kinds of

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companies. Spain became a major power in the European textile industry where less than a cen-tury earlier it had been an exporter of raw materials, cotton, silk and especially wool from the sheep of the mesta, and importer of finished goods. Education was a topic dear to the hearts of eighteenth-century reformers. Here again a real revolution occurred. Universities had become refuges for the sons of the wealthy and very little real learning, teaching or research happened there. King Carlos III, the most enlightened of eighteenth-century monarchs, expelled the Jesuits who were responsible for most of the univer-sities and were the major supporters of their aristocratic students, and allowed others to admin-ister the reformed institutions where the sons of other classes were encouraged to attend and study more technical subjects. The new universities also encouraged more freedom of thought and became centres for Masonry (a philosophy built on egalitarianism and religious freedom) and Jansenism. This ideology affirmed the right of the Spanish king - as opposed to Rome - to administer the Spanish Catholic Church and was the reason for the expulsion of the Jesuits be-cause they firmly upheld the authority of the Pope over church matters. Although some of these reforms were positive and Spanish thinkers were freed for the first time in centuries to express their thoughts relatively openly, without fear of the overwhelming presence of the Inquisition. The inquisition did exist but as an anachronistic and weakened institution that continued to ir-rationally reject new ideas. The expulsion of the Jesuits caused personal hardships to these men and their families but, more importantly for the nation, many gifted and dedicated teachers and scholars were lost to Spain. In many instances, Spain’s loss became Europe’s gain. In any event the ban was lifted not much later and many returned to the Peninsula. New institutions and associations were formed, such as the Sociedades Económicas de Amigos del Pais (Economic Association of the Friends of the Country), whose goals were to foment the study and research that had not been achieved at the universities, or that corre-sponded to new needs and interests, especially in the sciences. The king was also instrumental in founding and subsidising royal academies such as the Royal Academies of the Language, of History, of Fine Arts, of Medicine, of Mathematics and of Law. It was at this time that the Bib-lioteca Nacional (National Library) was built and the books and manuscripts held in the Royal Palace library were donated to begin this fine collection. Other Spaniards were encouraged to donate their private libraries to this new public institution where, now, any book published in Spanish or on a Spanish topic can be obtained as well as priceless manuscripts of Spanish texts, such as the Cantar de mio Cid, can be studied. Other specialized schools, faculties, conservato-ries, archives, astronomical observatories, and botanical gardens were established. The publica-tion of many books and scientific studies were also supported financially, thereby firmly estab-lishing Spanish science and scientists. Some of these Spanish scientists, such as Antonio de Ul-loa and Jorge Juan, would be recognized internationally when they published their calculations of the meridian. Although the ilustrados may have seemed like utopian dreamers to some, many solid reforms that made great social changes happened at this time. The bourgeoisie was now a force to be counted on as it exercised an important social role and grew in numbers. Members of the nobility who were interested in crafts or industries no longer had to fear losing their social status because Carlos II had abolished that rule. There was a parallel decrease by the end of the century in the numbers of clerics - from 220,000 to 170,000 - because entering a religious order

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was made more difficult. The number of nobles also diminished from 700,000 to 400,000 as the king did not reappoint or failed to use the granting of noble status as a means to show favourit-ism. Many nobles, opposed to the reforms of the government, took refuge in an artificial world that attempted to maintain what they saw as the old, traditional values, beliefs and activities of Spanish life. Eighteenth-century life was definitely more open and free than in previous times. The means of production were more modern and better organized. Spaniards, on the whole, were now better prepared to face the coming challenges that the modern world would bring in the next century. Nevertheless, the panic caused by the French Revolution - especially among the nobles - overturned some of these reforms and a much more conservative, if not reactionary, approach took power at the beginning of the nineteenth century when Fernando VII came to the throne. From this time on, there was constant conflict between the progressive, liberal forces represented mainly by the middle class, some members of the nobility and intellectuals, and the conservative, traditionalist forces represented by the monarchy, the church, and the nobility. This conflict of las dos Españas, (the two Spains) will eventually led to the Spanish Civil War. The Enlightenment: Throughout the eighteenth century, Europeans expressed a belief in values based on the idea that reason could provide solutions to all mankind’s problems through progress, equality and justice. The ilustrados in Spain shared these values and beliefs, opposed the traditionalist government and some aspects of religion, and advocated a more representative government, as well as the universality and independence of scientific ideas - including political science. They were, therefore, nonconformists, freethinkers and progressive. In Spain, the Enlightenment revived the thoughts of those who had espoused Erasmist ideas, as well as those who had been concerned over the nation’s decadence in previous times, thereby joining with the Spanish rationalist traditions of the past. These thinkers were innova-tive, eclectic and open to new European ideas; they preferred the study of physical sciences over metaphysics and rejected scholastic abstractions. Spanish ilustrados differed from other European philosophers in that they wanted to combine the best of the past with new ideas; they were also respectful of the dogma of the Catholic church although they did support the king’s power over the church and strongly opposed the church’s tax prerogatives. Sciences: The study of applied sciences grew dramatically in the eighteenth century. The most studied sciences were geography, natural sciences, and geology. Unlike these sciences, medi-cine did not advance until the latter part of the century, and then not in the universities but in institutions such as the Royal Society of Medicine and the Royal College of Surgery. One fa-mous Spanish doctor was Francisco Javier de Balmís y Berenguer who, only seven years after the discovery of the measles vaccine, organized a trip around the world between 1803 and 1806 to bring the vaccine to America and Asia.

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Many new government sponsored institutes dedicated to the study of sciences were es-tablished all over Spain. These encouraged many Spanish scientists and their works were rap-idly translated. The Essay: The reformist spirit and the desire to spread their ideas encouraged many Spanish au-thors to write essays and other nonfiction texts. Creative work was also didactic because it was seen as a means to instruction and indoctrination. This is one reason why the number of news-papers and magazines grew, although other reasons include the growth in literacy rates, espe-cially among women readers, the increase in leisure time, and the availability of gas lighting. Father Benito Feijoo, José de Cadalso and Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos were the fore-most authors of essays on a wide variety of issues, from the country’s politics to literary criti-cism. Jovellanos, as we have already explained, was an economist and author of an important text on agrarian reform but he also authored a Memoria sobre la educación (Memoir on Educa-tion). Cadalso, a playwright as well as an essayist, saw his Cartas marruecas (Moroccan letters) banned because of the attitudes he expressed about royalty. Amongst the books that I have chosen, I have set aside four on mathematics because I admire the breadth and depth of human reasoning when it is well organized. I have cho- sen that many again on scholastic philosophy because I am amazed by the extraordinary variety of thoughts that man can have when he is not limited by known and obvious thoughts. Also a book on medicine which lacks a complete section on simple people, who are better understood in Africa ... (Cartas marruecas by José de Cadalso) Juan Pablo Forner, another important writer of prose at this time, soundly criticized every and all aspects of Spanish life and letters which did not live up to his expectations. His cynicism and acerbic wit earned him many enemies who were often critiqued in supposedly anonymous letters and newspaper articles. Needless to say, Forner’s reactionary thoughts, ex-pressed in Oración apologética por la España y su mérito literario (Apologetic Prayer for Spain and its Literary Merit) earned him many readers well into the nineteenth century because of his defense of traditional Spanish culture and opposition to the secular ideas of the Enlight-enment. Literary Neoclassicism: Neoclassicism dictated submitting literature to a series of rules inspired by classicism. It opposed the mixing of contradictory elements, such as tragedy and comedy, verse and prose. In drama, neoclassicism insisted on the three unities of time, place and action. In nearly all literary and musical genres, these restrictions were mostly rejected by Spanish authors writing in the eighteenth century. Music, especially for the guitar, which had by now become the Spanish instrument, continued to be inspired by traditional and popular forms, even for religious music.

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Poetry, by authors such as Cadalso and Meléndez Valdés, was festive or pastoral or, in the case of the interesting transplanted poet/priest from England, J.M. Blanco White, it was dedicated to the imitation of Siglo de Oro models. The Madrid school of poets, represented by Nicolas Fernández de Moratín and his son Leandro Fernández de Moratín, also preferred tradi-tional, lyric, intimate and sentimental models. Despite their rejection of neoclassicism in poetry, both Moratín father and son did obey the classical unities in their dramatic works but this was not a universal practice as both trends were followed by different authors. Eighteenth-century dramatists showed a remarkable interest in historical topics drawn from medieval epic poetry but were used now as critiques of ineffec-tual or vicious courtly nobles or despotic monarchs. Other popular forms appeared, such as the very Castilian sainetes by Ramón de la Cruz in which scenes of every day life was portrayed. Neoclassicism in the Plastic Arts: Baroque tendencies lasted well into the eighteenth century thanks to a style called chur-rigueresco which was an ever greater emphasis on exaggerated forms and ornamental decora-tion. This style was named after a Catalan family of architects of the same name who were in-fluential as the builders of, for example, the Plaza Mayor in Salamanca. The Madrid city hall - which is now the Municipal and Historical Museum of Madrid - was also built in this style. An-other example of this nearly rococo style is the shocking skylight, el Transparente, that was added to the cathedral of Toledo by Narciso Tomé in 1726. The outstanding example of eight-eenth-century Spanish architecture is the facade of the Obradoiro of the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela which includes the portico of the Gloria sculpted by Fernando Casas y Novoa between 1738 and 1750. The eighteenth century also corresponded to a period of palace building in Spain as the Bourbon monarchs sought to imitate their French cousins. The old wooden royal palace in Ma-drid had burnt down, taking with it hundreds of paintings by Velásquez and his contemporaries, and needed to be replaced so Italian architects were hired to build what is today the Palacio Real. This huge neoclassical building and its beautiful gardens are only used today for ceremo-nial state functions and as a museum. The palaces of Aranjuez - which was rebuilt - and La Granja, both designed as summer getaways for the royal families, were also built at this time and in the style which is reminiscent of the Palace of Versailles outside Paris only smaller. The most neoclassical of Spanish buildings is the Prado Museum in Madrid. It is one of the many examples of buildings constructed and decorated by Spanish artists and sculptors after they had been sent to Roma to study. In sculpture the wooden polychrome statues usually of a religious figure came to be replaced by mythological figures carved in marble. These can be seen in the Madrid fountains of Cybele, Neptune and Apollo or in the figures that decorate the royal palaces and their respective gardens. Ironically, the gallery of the Madrid Royal palace which was designed to house a statue of each king of Spain failed to allow enough space to ac-commodate them all. As the new royal palaces needed to be decorated, murals, paintings and tapestries were commissioned. Most were of neoclassical mythological themes, scenes of everyday life or other

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secular topics. Other decorative materials and objects were required such as fine ceramic tiles, carpets, porcelain, bronzes, statuary of precious stones, crystal and stained glass, mirrors and lamps, which today can be seen at the Museo Nacional de Artes Decorativas (The National Mu-seum of Decorative Arts) in Madrid. These needs also fostered the creation and royal sponsor-ship of factories where these crafts could be taught, such as the Real Fábrica de Tapices (Royal Tapestry Factory) where an artist such as Goya once studied, thereby advancing Spanish indus-try in these luxury goods which could be exported. Francisco de Goya: Francisco de Goya (1746-1826) is often seen as the embodiment of the transition from eighteenth-century classicism to nineteenth-century realism; others have seen him as a prede-cessor to twentieth-century impressionism. His painting is a triumph of realism and fantasy, col-our and technique over the conventionality of neoclassicism. Goya, in more ways than one, broke with the rules and restrictions of his time as he created an atemporal art. His training began as a painter of the plans, called cartoons, for tapestry embroidery and weaving at the Royal Fabric of Tapestries in Madrid. The market requirements of these tapes-tries demanded that he design happy scenes of outdoor life, usually showing an idealized view of how the lower classes spent their leisure time. The paintings are usually called costumbrista or that which reveals local customs. He was also restricted in the colours he could use because the dies of the threads were limited. Eventually he was commissioned to paint the dome in the ceiling of the hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida. This work caused some scandal because of its realism but it also brought Goya to the attention of King Carlos IV and other nobles who then commissioned him with many portraits. The best known of these are La familia de Carlos IV (The Family of Carlos IV) and his two Maja portraits. The family portrait is said to be sub-versive because the painter refused to beautify the figures, especially the King and Queen, as was usually done. It would appear that Goya was making it very clear that, although he was owed them his living, he paints them as he saw them, even outlining their personality defects. The resemblance between the king’s first minister, Godoy, and the youngest prince is striking, perhaps, as rumours had it, because he was his son. There is one woman in the painting whose figure is turned away from the painter: this was a way to include the yet to be named woman who would marry the future king, then prince Fernando. The two famous Maja portraits are of the same woman, perhaps a noble woman with whom Goya may have had an affair. In the first painting she is fully clothed but stretched out in a suggestive manner and, when this caused a flurry of gossip, Goya painted her again, in the exact pose but naked. Goya suffered a serious illness that left him very hard of hearing and depressed, isolated from his earlier courtly life. His paintings reflect the changes in his life as he produced his pin-turas negras (black paintings) as well as his engravings, watercolours and lithographs which reveal a dark spirit and a world full of the demons of his mind. His political opposition to Godoy and Carlos IV caused him to be kept under house ar-rest which only exacerbated his nightmares and isolation. The Spanish War of Independence against the armies of France under Napoleon caused great concern to Goya who immortalized

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the horrors in a long series of engravings called Los desastres de la guerra (The Disasters of War) and in his two famous oil paintings La carga de los mamelucos (The Charge of the Ma-melukes) and Los fusilamientos de la Moncloa (The shootings at La Moncloa) also known as the Tres de mayo, (The Third of May), the day after the uprising of the inhabitants of Madrid against the foreign oppressors, symbolized by the foreign Arab soldiers, when the ringleaders were shot by a firing squad behind the Palace of the Moncloa. Goya shows us the despair in the eyes of the Spaniards and the friar who was there to help them at their death in contrast to the faceless, nearly machine-like formation of the rifles of the French. The Palace of the Moncloa, seen in the background, is near the modern Complutense University of Madrid, was the subject of heavy bombing during the Spanish Civil War. Now it is where the Spanish Prime Minister has his offices. Spanish America: Many social changes occurred in Spanish America at this time as the population of criollos (those Spanish Americans who were born in America of European parents) increased and as the government tried to assimilate the native populations by a systems of reducciones which paid them to learn industrial, agricultural and domestic trades and, not unintentionally, separated them from their native villages. Economic reform affected Spanish America, especially after the import and export re-strictions were lifted by Carlos III, thereby stimulating the development of natural resources and productivity. The population grew steadily and the middle class became a dominant force. Ideas about independence began to surface, especially during the years of the Napoleonic inva-sion of Spain when the Spanish government was too busy with its own problems to worry about the colonies. Many new cities sprung up at this time as the settlers from Spain, as opposed to the ini-tial conquistadores who did not plan to stay in Spanish America a and had not brought their families with them, required housing, churches and schools as well as municipal buildings and hospitals. Baroque art was widely accepted in Spanish America perhaps because the sense of over-whelming decoration already existed there in the profusion of nature. The Mexican nun, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, who, as a poet and playwright is an outstanding example of this style. Neoclassical drama reached America due to traveling companies of actors or individual authors and directors who moved to America, especially to Mexico City. Spanish American culture reached the same high levels as that seen in Spain. Chronology: 1618-1640: After the Thirty Years War, Spain loses its military and political hegemony over

Europe and is forced to recognize the independence of Holland. 1621: Felipe IV is named King of Spain. 1626: The Mexican born playwright, Juan Ruiz de Alarcón publishes the first part of his plays

in Madrid.1635: Velásquez paints La rendición de Breda o Las lanzas

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1638-1639: Zurbarán paints the Sacristy of the Monastery of Guadalupe in Cáceres. 1640: Portuguese independence from Spain. Uprisings in Cataluña over regional rights. 1656: Velásquez paints Las Meninas. 1659: Spain signs the Peace Treaty of the Pyrenees with France, thereby losing part of Sardinia

and Rousillon. 1665: Carlos II becomes King of Spain. 1680: The Recopilación de Leyes de los reinos de Indias (Recompilation of the Laws of the

Kingdoms of the Indies) is promulgated. 1700: Felipe V becomes King of Spain. The war of Spanish Succession begins. 1712: The Biblioteca Nacional is founded. 1713: Peace of Utrecht ends the war and Felipe V is recognized as the King of Spain by Euro-

pean powers. In recompense Spain loses its last European possessions and England takes possession of Gibraltar and the Balearic island of Menorca.

1714: The Spanish Royal Academy Language is created. The University of Cervera in Lérida is created.

1714-1717: Internal customs are removed. 1726-1739: First dictionary published by the Spanish Royal Academy of Language. 1733: Spain signs the Family Pact with France to counteract British expansionism. 1734: Spanish Royal Academy of Medicine is created. 1737: Spanish Royal Academy of Pharmacy is created. 1743: Second Family Pact is signed. 1744: Spanish Royal Academy of Fine Arts is created. 1746: Fernando VI becomes King of Spain. 1748: Royal College of Surgery is created in Cadiz. 1753: Signing of Concordat with the Vatican recognizes that the King of Spain could intervene

in certain church issues. 1754: Astronomical Marine Observatory is founded in Cadiz. 1755: Botanical Garden in Madrid is established. 1756: First Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País (Economical Association of the Friends of

the Country) is started. 1759: Carlos III becomes King of Spain. 1761: Third Family Pact is signed. 1766: Reactionary opposition provokes the Esquilache mutiny. 1767: The Jesuits are expelled. 1771: Campomanes proposes agrarian reform and begins educational reforms. 1782: Creation of the State Bank of San Carlos. 1783: Menorca, Uruguay and Florida are recovered. 1786: Juan Pablo Forner publishes Oración apologética por España y su mérito literario. 1788: Carlos IV becomes King of Spain. 1789: Goya becomes royal painter. Laws limiting the powers of the nobles are passed. 1792: Godoy comes to power. 1795: Jovellanos publishes Informe sobre la ley agraria. 1796: Peace of San Idelfonso is signed: the Spanish state joins revolutionary France. 1800: Goya paints La familia de Carlos IV.

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Themes for review and discussion: 1. Summarize the influence of the church on painting, literature, and politics during the seven-

teenth and eighteenth centuries. 2. “To rule for the people without the people.” Analyze this sentence that summarizes Enlight-

ened Despotism and authoritarian government. 3. Trace the social and political causes that brought rational governmental reforms to an end. 4. Compare medieval and Renaissance drama to Baroque drama. 5. Explain the transition from Baroque to Neoclassical style in art, architecture and literature. Bibliography: Fernádez Fernández, E. “ Spain’s Contribution to the Independence of the United States,” Revista Interamericans 8,3,1980