Truth, Time and History facts for kids

Truth, Time and History (Spanish: La Verdad, el Tiempo y la Historia) is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya. The painting is also known by the titles Spain, Time, and History and Allegory of the Constitution of 1812. It has been assigned dates ranging from 1797 to 1812, though it is most commonly dated between 1804 and 1808. It is currently in the collection of the Nationalmuseum in Stockholm.

The painting is often thought to have been commissioned in conjunction with a second piece titled Poetry (Spanish: la Poesia) for Manuel Godoy. Godoy was the First Secretary of State of Spain at the time, and the paintings may have decorated his palace in Madrid.

Description

..... Wrapped around her waist is a green cloth, and another book lies open at her feet.

Time appears behind History, to the right. He is an elderly, bearded man holding an hourglass. His face looks upward so that most of the details of his features are obscured from view. Time bears large, white wings that extend outward, off the canvas on the right and on the left, behind the body of the third figure, who he grips by the arm.

There are conflicting interpretations of the identity of the woman dressed in white on the left of the painting. .....

The background of the painting is light on the left behind Truth and dark on the right side surrounding Time.

Preliminary work

Goya made a related, rough oil sketch between 1797 and 1799 (or, by some accounts, in 1804). ..... The sketch is in the collection of Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. No owls or bats appear in the final version of the painting, nor were they painted over.

Another red chalk and wash sketch of the same allegorical figures of Time and Truth in slightly different positions, escaping from dark owls at the lower left hand corner of the sketch, is in the Prado Museum in Madrid, Spain. It has been confirmed that Goya created this sketch to prepare for Los Caprichos. However, it may also be associated with Truth, Time, and History. Martin S. Soria references this sketch as evidence that Goya did not initially include History in his plans for the painting.

The drawing appears in a small sketchbook that Goya owned and began working on while in Italy; the sketchbook is now located in the Prado, Madrid.

Provenance

The first reliable record of provenance for this painting is from 1867. Charles Yriarte recorded this painting (and Poetry) as both in the collection of Juan Duncan Shaw, the Austrian consul in Cádiz. Because this is the first notable record of either piece, the two are sometimes considered a pair. Janis A. Tomlinson, a Goya art historian, writes that "in the absence of other documents, it is not possible to trace their provenance to Godoy’s collection."

After Mr. Shaw's death in 1878, the paintings were passed to his decedents and their provenance until present is as follows:

• 1900: Mr Luis de Navas in Madrid.
• The collection of Charles Deering of Chicago, on display in his residence in Sitges, Barcelona for a time before being moved to Chicago.
• 1927 (Mr. Deering's death): Acquired by the New York company E. & A. Silberman Galleries
• 1961: Acquired by the National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm.

See also

In Spanish: La Verdad, el Tiempo y la Historia para niños