The representation of Roma in major European museum collections E-Book

Sarah Carmona

• Herausgeber: Council of Europe
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Serie: The representation of Roma in major European museum collections
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2020

Seitenzahl: 180

Beschreibung

What do works of art teach us from their period of creation? What do they teach us about human interaction, about social groups?

The Council of Europe is a key player in the fight to respect the rights and equal treatment of Roma and Travellers. As such, it implements various actions aimed at combating discrimination: facilitating the access of Roma and Travellers to public services and justice; giving visibility to their history, culture and languages; and ensuring their participation in the different levels of decision making.

Another aspect of the Council of Europe’s work is to improve the wider public’s understanding of Roma and their place in Europe. Knowing and understanding Roma and Travellers, their customs, their professions, their history, their migration and the laws affecting them are indispensable elements for interpreting the situation of Roma and Travellers today and understanding the discrimination they face.

This publication focuses on what the works exhibited at the Prado Museum tell us about the place and perception of Roma in Europe from the 15th to the 19th centuries.Students aged 12 to 18, teachers, and any other visitor to the Prado interested in this theme, will find detailed worksheets on 15 paintings representing Roma and Travellers and a booklet to foster reflection on the works and their context, while creating links with our contemporary perception of Roma and Travellers in today’s society.

Leseprobe

THE REPRESENTATION OF ROMAIN MAJOR EUROPEANMUSEUMCOLLECTIONS

Volume 2 – The Prado

Sarah Carmona

Council of Europe

French edition:

La représentation des Roms dans les grandes collections muséographiques européennes – Volume II: Le PradoPaper ISBN 978-92-871-8983-7

The opinions expressed in this work are the responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy of the Council of Europe.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, reproduced or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic (CD-Rom, internet, etc.) or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the Directorate of Communication (F-67075 Strasbourg Cedex or [email protected]).

Cover design and layout: Documents and Publications Production Department (SPDP), Council of Europe

Fact sheet structure: © Patrick Straub,

Contents

Preface

The HaywainTriptych (1512-1515)

Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516)

Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1518-1520)

Joachim Patinir (1480-1524)

The Temptations of Saint Anthony the Abbot (1520-1524)

Joachim Patinir (1480-1524), Quentin Massys (1465-1530)

The Holy Family/La Perla (1518)

Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) (1483-1520), Giulio Romano (1499-1546)

The Visitation (1517)

Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) (1483-1520),Giulio Romano (1499-1546),Giovanni Penni (1496-1528)

The Triumph of Death (1562-1563)

Pieter Brueghel the Elder (1525-1569)

Mule Train and Gypsies in a Forest (1612)

Jan Brueghel Elder (1568-1625)

Landscape with Gypsies (1641-1645)

David Teniers II

Gypsy Family (18th century)

Pietro Giacomo Palmieri (1737-1804)

An avenue in Andalusia or The Maja and the Cloaked Men (1777)

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828)

The Fight at the Cock Inn (1777)

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828)

Three Gypsies (1840)

Genaro Pérez Villaamil y Duguet (1807-1854)

A Gypsy (1871)

Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta (1841-1920)

Where do we go now? (Bosnians) (1884)

Joaquín Araujo y Ruano (1851-1894)

The Cattle Market (second half of the 19th century)

Joaquín Araujo y Ruano (1851-1894)

From epistemicide to cultural appropriation

Conclusion: the justice of the singular versus the totalitarianism of the truth

The catalogue and photo credits

Preface

“A work of art is not the reflection or image of the world;but it resembles the world.”Ionesco

Who are the characters wearing their hair in white headwraps in Bosch’s The Haywain Triptych or in The Triumph of Death by Pieter Bruegel the Elder? And the young Maja, in Goya’s painting A Walk in Andalusia? What characterises Madrazo y Garreta's painting, A Gypsy woman?

What do these works of art teach us about their time of creation? What do they teach us about interactions between people and social groups?

This book will provide many answers, explaining and at the same time questioning the place given to Roma in the Prado collections. This pedagogical guide is in line with the Council of Europe strategic objective of tackling prejudice and discrimination against Roma and Travellers.1

In addition to other initiatives – such as the partnership with the European Roma Institute for Arts and Culture (ERIAC) and the contribution to Roma Genocide remembrance, and in particular its teaching – this book highlights the perception of Roma among the general public and gives an idea of the complex mechanisms that construct stereotypes underlying discrimination. In addition, it helps the reader to understand the role and contribution of Roma to European history.

Whether you are a teacher of history, art history or philosophy, a (school) student or simply a visitor to the Prado, this book is an invitation to openness and discovery through worksheets that present, in depth, 15 selected works of art. It provides a contextual framework that will allow you to put into perspective the works, periods and history of ideas. These are essential tools in today’s fight against anti-Gypsyism and in recognising the Roma’s place in European history.

Enjoy this beautiful experience!

Snežana Samardžic-MarkovićDirector General of DemocracyCouncil of Europe

1. The term “Roma and Travellers” is used at the Council of Europe to encompass the wide diversity of the groups covered by the work of the Council of Europe in this field: on the one hand a) Roma, Sinti/Manush, Kale/Cale, Kaale, Romanichals, Boyash/Rudari; b) Balkan Egyptians (Egyptians and Ashkali); c) Eastern groups (Dom, Lom and Abdal); and, on the other hand, groups such as Travellers, Yenish, and the populations designated under the administrative term “Gens du voyage”, as well as persons who identify themselves as Gypsies. The present is an explanatory footnote, not a definition of Roma and/or Travellers.

The Haywain Triptych (1512-1515)

Hieronymus Bosch (1450-1516)

Oil on wood (147 x 212 cm) – Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

Fact sheet 1

The HaywainTriptych (1512-1515)

The work in brief

Period: late Middle Ages, early Modern Period

Style: Northern Renaissance (Flemish)

Artistic field: visual art

Medium: painting

Genre: moral allegory

The work in question

■What scenes are depicted on the panels of the triptych?

The painting is a biblical metaphor for the ephemeral nature of earthly things. Open, it depicts sin. Closed, it shows homo viator, a wayfarer making his way through life. On the central panel is the hay cart, on the left panel, heaven, and on the right, Hell.

■Why is the main theme that of people crowding round a wagon piled with hay?

The haywain symbolises everything we crave for: riches, honours, pleasures. It trundles towards the granary, drawn by seven monsters: the seven deadly sins. Some figures are trying to climb onto the wagon, while others have already fallen off and are being crushed under its wheels. They represent humankind pulled along by sin. The nobles of this world (emperor, king and pope), like the common folk, all belong to what Bosch considers the perverse human race. They follow the wagon, paying no attention to the redeeming figure of Christ, who looks down on the scene from a cloud above.

■What are Hieronymus Bosch’s sources? From what biblical episode did he draw his inspiration?

There is a reference to the haywain in the Old Testament (Book of Isaiah 40.6: “Omnis caro foenum” – All people are like grass) but Bosch’s influences are also popular, as demonstrated by the Flemish proverb “the world is a hay cart and everyone takes what they can from it”.

■If you close the triptych, what do you see?

The figure of a wayfaring peddler wending his way through life. The only positive lower-class vagabond in the iconography of Hieronymus Bosch, the old man is bent under the weight of his load. He uses his staff to fend off a growling dog. He is looking back over the years. What he sees is robbery, fighting, and that humankind is lost.

■In which direction is the triptych meant to be read?

It can be read vertically or horizontally. Successive horizontal bands cor-respond to different layers in the painting and follow the movement of the cart, from left to right. The first band signifies the parasites of society. Here we find two Gypsy women, one of whom is a fortune teller. Above this scene a yellow band almost empty of people reveals the route followed by the procession. In front of the wagon groups of figures in muddled clusters show the violence that inevitably comes with cupidity. Either side of the cart, two groups form symmetrical triangles, pointing towards the front of the wheel. Behind the cart we discover a vast landscape composed of mountains, lakes and dwellings. The vertical view is focused on a central axis, ranging from a tooth puller with pockets full of hay, to scenes of people fighting for hay in front of the cart. We then pause at the base of the bale of hay, a scene of voluptuousness featuring characters not only oblivious to the agitation around them but also to the figure of Christ in pain, in a cloud bathed in heavenly light, observing how the vices of men turn them away from his ultimate sacrifice.

■Why did the artist include Romani2 characters in this moralistic allegory?

By the end of the 14th century, Roma people had been living in Europe for several decades, even up to a century in some areas. They are mentioned in many archived documents, where they are often referred to as “Bohemians” or “Egyptians”.

In the foreground on the central panel a child leads a blind man by the hand. To their right, outcast and mistrusted, two Gypsy women are recognisable by their dark complexion and their large, white, round hats. One is taking the hand of a fair-complexioned lady whose fine clothes suggest that she is of noble stock. Fortune-telling, also known as chiromancy, is an activity frowned upon by the Church. The chiromancer holds a baby against her chest, tucked inside the fold of her robe. Another child, bare-legged, clutches the wealthy lady’s dress. The other Gypsy is sitting on the ground washing the bottom of a baby lying across her lap. She uses water from a bowl on the ground beside her. Behind her is a jug, as well as a pig lying down, something roasting on a spit, and a dog. These are all incarnations of vice in the eyes of the painter, who sees them as signs of human sinfulness.

The work in themes

Theme: Allegory

1. Louvre: The Glorious Virgin (circa 1485), Anonymous

Reasons for the connection

Works depicting a moral and religious allegory and featuring Romani women

Comparison keys

Similarities

►Genre: the Romani woman as an allegory

►Romani dress

►Northern Renaissance

Differences

►Technique: tapestry/painting on wood

►Genre: scene from the Old Testament/religious allegory

Theme: Romani dress

5. Prado: The Visitation (1517) by Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael), Giulio Romano, Giovanni Penni

3. Louvre: The Small Holy Family (circa 1519) by Giulio Romano

5. Louvre: The Fortune Teller (1595-1598) by Caravaggio

13. Prado: A Gypsy (1871) by Raimundo de Madrazo y Garreta

Theme: Texts

Sébastian Brant, The ship of fools. Late 15th century. Allegory in verse of various types of folly, providing a tableau of the human condition.

2. Editor’s note: the term “Romani” is used in a more extensive context than the restriction to language and culture.

Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1518-1520)

Joachim Patinir (1480-1524)

Oil on wood (121 x 177 cm)– Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

Fact sheet 2

Rest on the Flight into Egypt (1518-1520)

The work in brief

Period: 15th-16th century

Style: Northern Renaissance

Artistic field: visual art

Medium: painting

Genre: religious scene

The work in question

■What religious scene does the artist depict?

The painting shows the Holy Family’s flight into Egypt. This episode, which has inspired so many artists, is described in the Gospel according to St Matthew: warned by an angel that Herod has decided to kill the king of the Jews, Joseph leaves Bethlehem by night with Mary and their son, to take them to Egypt. When Herod dies and his son Archelaus succeeds him, they return to Nazareth to live. While they are away the massacre of the children of Bethlehem, known as the Massacre of the Innocents, takes place.

■What can be said about the picture’s composition?

Like a triptych, the painting is in three parts. In the central foreground, on an outcrop of rock, sit the Virgin Mary and Child in Majesty. Behind them is a dark forest. To the right, quite separate, the fields, the barn and the village in the distance are recurrent themes of Patinir’s. To the left, at the foot of a towering rocky mountain, stands Heliopolis with its Early Gothic buildings. Idols fall from one of the towers while in other buildings the faithful present offerings to their gods. On his way back from the city, Joseph brings a jug of milk for the Virgin, who is nursing her baby.

■What do we know about the symbolism of flowers and plants in the 16th century?

Flowers and trees had specific meanings in the religious art of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The apple tree on Mary’s right represents the tree of good and evil, dried up by the original sin, but brought back to life by the birth of Christ. The grapeless vine winding round the tree recalls the words of Christ: “I am the vine”, and portends his death. The chestnut tree in the background is associated with the Resurrection. The chestnuts on the ground symbolise the Immaculate Conception.

■What links this scene to Romani iconography?

A recurring motif in the painting of the day, the turbaned Virgin, represented here as Maria lactans (nursing mother), and the evocation of the biblical theme of the exile in Egypt link this work with Romani iconography. By the end of the 14th century Roma people had been in Europe for several decades, even up to a century in some regions. They are mentioned in many archived documents, where they are often referred to as “Egyptians”. Like the Hebrews and the Holy Family fleeing persecution, they too are a people on the move. In those days everything related to Egypt was considered mysterious and magical, with no negative connotation. Had that not been so, it would not have been possible to depict the Virgin wearing a turban like the Gypsy women of the time.

Lastly, she is nursing the Baby Jesus. Similar images of loving and nursing mothers are found in numerous texts and representations from that era describing the arrival of “Egyptians” in the towns and countryside.

The work in themes

Theme: Biblical scenes

4. Louvre: Moses Saved from the Water (1539) by Nicolò dell’Abbate

Reasons for the connection

►Biblical references. Reference to Egypt.

Comparison keys

Similarities

►Genre: religious scene featuring Romani figures

►Period: Renaissance

Differences

►The composition in three parts/the bucolic setting

►Technique: oil on wood/drawing

Theme: Romani dress

3. Prado: The Temptations of Saint Anthony the Abbot (1520-1524) by Joachim Patinir and Quentin Massys

4. Prado: The Holy Family/La Perla (1518) by Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) and Giulio Romano

2. Louvre: The Great Holy Family (circa 1518) by Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael)

10. Prado: An Avenue in Andalusia or The Maja and the Cloaked Men (1777) by Francisco de Goya y Lucientes

The Temptations of Saint Anthony the Abbot (1520-1524)

Joachim Patinir (1480-1524), Quentin Massys (1465-1530)

Oil on wood (155 x 173 cm) – Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

Fact sheet 3

The Temptations of Saint Anthony the Abbot(1520-1524)

Period: 16th century

Style: Northern Renaissance

Artistic field: visual art

Medium: painting on wood

Genre: religious scene

The work in question

■What does the painting depict?

As in other paintings by Patinir, several scenes from the temptations are depicted. In the central foreground three women of different generations tempt Saint Anthony. One offers him an apple, an allusion to the original sin, another talks to him reassuringly, while the third, the train of whose robe reveals the Devil in her, strokes his neck. A little monkey, symbolising the Devil, tugs at the Saint’s cloak. Smaller scenes surround this main image. On the right Saint Anthony is once again subjected to temptation, this time by a queen and her ladies-in-waiting. In the boat, unseen by the holy man, who is making a sign of exorcism, monstrous creatures await. Further left, Patinir portrays the Saint, his hair aflame, then being attacked by hybrid animals and creatures while a horde of demons approach from behind. Further left, under an awning outside a chapel, Saint Anthony sits in prayer. The sky above is full of diabolical agitation.

■What is shown in the background?

Almost a third of the composition is taken up by landscape. Patinir is said to have been the first landscape painter. His treatment of natural scenery is characterised by its amplitude. This is achieved in two ways: the space depicted is immense thanks to the elevated panoramic viewpoint used, while at the same time, with scarcely any heed for geographical accuracy, it encompasses as many phenomena and specimens as possible, representative of all the earth has to offer by way of curiosities, real or imaginary. In addition to the panoramic perspective, he uses da Vinci’s aerial perspective, dividing space into three depths of field by colour: brownish-ochre, green and blue.

■What connects this painting to the Romani world?

In the scene left of centre, demons have set fire first to the Saint’s treetop cabin, then to his hair, to bring him down to the ground where they can attack him. One of the creatures is clearly wearing the flat, round hat typically associated with Roma people in works of art. Her central presence in this little scene brings us back to the Romani woman as an allegory of vice, heresy and temptation.

■Why is the work signed by two artists?

Joaquim Patinir and Quentin Massys were Flemish Renaissance painters, both born in Antwerp. They were strongly influenced by Bosch’s paintings.

In this picture Patinir, who already had his own studio, painted the background and the landscape while Massys took charge of the figures. We thus have two renowned painters each working in the field he knows best. This is both a great landscape painting and a great religious painting. Our attention is captured as much by the story Quentin Massys tells as by Patinir’s landscape.

The work in themes

Theme: allegory

3. Prado: The Haywain Triptych (1512-1515) by Hieronymus Bosch

Reasons for the connection

►Two allegorical representations of vice in Romani guise

►The Flemish Renaissance

►Hybrid creatures and demons

Comparison keys

Similarities

►Genre: religious scene with Romani figure

►Romani dress

►Bestiary and demons/monsters

Theme: Landscape

4. Prado: The Holy Family/La Perla (1518) by Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) and Giulio Romano

7. Prado: Mule Train and Gypsies in a Forest (1612) by Jan Brueghel the Elder

8. Prado: Landscape with Gypsies (1641-1645) by David Teniers II

10. Louvre: Travellers Beneath the Ruins (1640-1643) by Sébastien Bourdon

Theme: Studio work

4. Prado: The Holy Family/La Perla (1518) by Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) and Giulio Romano

The Holy Family/La Perla (1518)

Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) (1483-1520), Giulio Romano (1499-1546)

Oil on wood (147.4 x 116 cm) – Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

Fact sheet 4

The Holy Family/La Perla (1518)

The work in brief

Period: 16th century

Style: Italian Renaissance

Artistic field: visual art

Medium: painting

Genre : biblical scene

The work in question

■Who are the people depicted in the painting?

The painting shows the Virgin Mary, draped in a Marian blue mantle, Jesus and his cousin Saint John the Baptist, wearing the sheepskin he would wear later as a preacher, and Saint Elisabeth, his mother. In the shadows in the background we see Saint Joseph. All the figures except for Jesus have halos.

■Why is Saint Elisabeth depicted as a 15th-century Romani woman?

This motif occurs frequently in the religious painting of the 15th and 16th centuries. Hermeneuts and annunciators, it was Saint John the Baptist and his mother Saint Elisabeth who proclaimed the coming of the Messiah and his crucifixion in the New Testament. Note how grave Saint Elisabeth’s expression is. She knows the sacrifices and suffering Jesus and her son will have to endure for their faith. She can see into the future, as power Romani women were believed to have at the time. So she is depicted with dark skin and sharp features and wearing a striped turban, arranged in the Romani manner.

■Why is the painting also known as La Perla?

This work by Raphael, to which Giulio Romano also contributed, was the favourite painting of Philip IV, King of Spain, who called it his “pearl”. From a very young age he was a lover and patron of the arts, and this work was the jewel of his collection. There is some debate as to its real author, but the composition is unanimously attributed to Raphael, who is believed to have asked Giulio Romano, a student of his, to finish it.

■ What can be said about the composition of the painting?

The composition is pyramid-shaped. The triangular layout, like the importance of the landscape in the background and the play of contrasting light, shows the influence of Leonardo da Vinci on Raphael and his studio.

The work in themes

Theme: Representational codes

5. Prado: The Visitation (1517) by Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael), Giulio Romano, Giovanni Penni

3. Louvre: The Small Holy Family (circa 1519) by Giulio Romano

Reasons for the connection

►Two pictures of the Holy Family with Saint Elisabeth depicted with Romani features

►Renaissance studio work

Comparison keys

Similarities

►Genre: religious scene featuring a Romani figure

►Romani dress

Differences

►The setting: symbolic presence of nature/bucolic setting

►The light: play of light and shade (darker palette of Leonardo da Vinci)/diffuse presence of nature

Theme: Romani dress

3. Louvre: The Small Holy Family (circa 1519) by Giulio Romano

5. Louvre: The Fortune Teller (1595-1598) by Caravaggio

13. Louvre: Gypsy Camp (17th century) by Jan van de Venne

Theme: Studio work

3. Prado: The Temptations of Saint Anthony the Abbot (1520-1524) by Joachim Patinir and Quentin Massys

3. Louvre: The Small Holy Family (circa 1519) by Giulio Romano

The Visitation (1517)

Raffaello Sanzio (Raphael) (1483-1520),Giulio Romano (1499-1546), Giovanni Penni (1496-1528)

Oil on canvas (200 x 145 cm) – Prado Museum, Madrid, Spain

Fact sheet 5

The Visitation (1517)

The work in brief