Asmodea
Encyclopedia
Asmodea or Fantastic Vision (Spanish: Vision fantástica) are names given to a fresco painting likely completed between 1820–1823 by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya
. It shows two flying figures hovering over a landscape dominated by a large tabled mountain. Asmodea is one of Goya's 14 "Black Paintings
" - his last major series- which, in mental and physical despair, he painted at the end of his life directly onto the walls of his house, the Quinta del Sordo, outside Madrid.
No written or oral record survives as to the series' intended meaning, and it is probable that they were never intended to be seen by those outside his then small immediate circle. Goya did not name any of the works in the series; the title of Asmodea was later given by his friend, the Spanish painter Antonio Brugada
. The title is likely a feminine naming of the demon king Asmodeus
from the Book of Tobias. Asmodeus also appears in the myth of the greek Titan Prometheus
, in which the goddess Minerva
carries him to the Caucasus mountains
.
Two figures, one male and one female, are shown airborne, hovering above a broad landscape. The woman wears a white dress covered by a red-rose coloured robe. Both seem fearful, she covers the lower half of her face with her robe, his face is deeply disturbed. They are each looking in opposite directions, while he points to a town on top of a mountain on the right of the canvas. Critic Evan Connell notes that the mountain's shape resembles Gibraltar
, a refuge for Spanish liberals during the aftermath of the Peninsular War
. In the foreground, a row of French soldiers, resembling those from Goya's 1814 The Third of May 1808
, take aim at a group of people passing in the lower distance. This group is traveling with horses and wagons, and are perhaps refugees fleeing from the earlier war with France, the victims of whom Goya had detailed so closely in his "The Disasters of War
".
Writer Richard Cottrell has noted the similarity in the colouring of the 'livid' sky with another work from the "Black Painting" series, The Dog
. The work bears similarity to Atropos
and A Pilgrimage to San Isidro
, in that it utilises an elliptical
visual device to distort the viewer's perspective. In this case the robe of the male flyer - or Fate (Morirai) - brings him almost out of the canvas and much closer to the viewer than the female flyer. Like Atropos, this work is one of the only from the series in which its intended meaning can be deduced from its classical sources.
This work was originally created on cloth hung on a wall, and like most of the others in the series, painted over an earlier version of the scene. Goya placed the work on the side walls of the upper floor of the Quinta. It was later transferred to canvas, and today is on permanent display with the other works from the series at the Museo del Prado
, Madrid. According to writer Rolfh Kentish, it is an example of Goya's,
Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era...
. It shows two flying figures hovering over a landscape dominated by a large tabled mountain. Asmodea is one of Goya's 14 "Black Paintings
Black Paintings
The Black Paintings is the name given to a group of paintings by Francisco Goya from the later years of his life, likely between 1819–1823. They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his fear of insanity and by then, his bleak outlook on humanity...
" - his last major series- which, in mental and physical despair, he painted at the end of his life directly onto the walls of his house, the Quinta del Sordo, outside Madrid.
No written or oral record survives as to the series' intended meaning, and it is probable that they were never intended to be seen by those outside his then small immediate circle. Goya did not name any of the works in the series; the title of Asmodea was later given by his friend, the Spanish painter Antonio Brugada
Antonio Brugada
Antonio Brugada was a Spanish painter. Brugada is best known for his dramatic seascapes.Brugada was a friend of Francisco Goya, and was instrumental in cataloguing, and idetifying some of the mythological figures in Goya's c. 1823 "Black paintings" series.-Sources:*...
. The title is likely a feminine naming of the demon king Asmodeus
Asmodeus
Asmodeus may refer to:* Asmodai, a demon-like figure of the Talmud and Book of Tobit* Asmodeus , Austrian black-metal band*Asmodeus , the name of several characters in Marvel Comics*Asmodeus...
from the Book of Tobias. Asmodeus also appears in the myth of the greek Titan Prometheus
Prometheus
In Greek mythology, Prometheus is a Titan, the son of Iapetus and Themis, and brother to Atlas, Epimetheus and Menoetius. He was a champion of mankind, known for his wily intelligence, who stole fire from Zeus and gave it to mortals...
, in which the goddess Minerva
Minerva
Minerva was the Roman goddess whom Romans from the 2nd century BC onwards equated with the Greek goddess Athena. She was the virgin goddess of poetry, medicine, wisdom, commerce, weaving, crafts, magic...
carries him to the Caucasus mountains
Caucasus Mountains
The Caucasus Mountains is a mountain system in Eurasia between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the Caucasus region .The Caucasus Mountains includes:* the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range and* the Lesser Caucasus Mountains....
.
Two figures, one male and one female, are shown airborne, hovering above a broad landscape. The woman wears a white dress covered by a red-rose coloured robe. Both seem fearful, she covers the lower half of her face with her robe, his face is deeply disturbed. They are each looking in opposite directions, while he points to a town on top of a mountain on the right of the canvas. Critic Evan Connell notes that the mountain's shape resembles Gibraltar
Gibraltar
Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...
, a refuge for Spanish liberals during the aftermath of the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
. In the foreground, a row of French soldiers, resembling those from Goya's 1814 The Third of May 1808
The Third of May 1808
The Third of May 1808 is a painting completed in 1814 by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. In the work, Goya sought to commemorate Spanish resistance to Napoleon's armies during the occupation of 1808...
, take aim at a group of people passing in the lower distance. This group is traveling with horses and wagons, and are perhaps refugees fleeing from the earlier war with France, the victims of whom Goya had detailed so closely in his "The Disasters of War
The Disasters of War
The Disasters of War are a series of 8280 prints in the first published edition , for which the last two plates were not available. See "Execution". prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya...
".
Writer Richard Cottrell has noted the similarity in the colouring of the 'livid' sky with another work from the "Black Painting" series, The Dog
The Dog (Goya)
The Dog is the name usually given to a painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya, now in the Museo del Prado, Madrid. It shows the head of a small black dog gazing upwards...
. The work bears similarity to Atropos
Atropos (Goya)
Atropos, or The Fates is one of the 14 black paintings painted by Francisco de Goya between 1819-23...
and A Pilgrimage to San Isidro
A Pilgrimage to San Isidro
A Pilgrimage to San Isidro is one of the Black Paintings painted by Francisco de Goya between 1819–23 on the interior walls of the house known as "The House of the Deaf Man" that he purchased in 1819...
, in that it utilises an elliptical
Ellipse
In geometry, an ellipse is a plane curve that results from the intersection of a cone by a plane in a way that produces a closed curve. Circles are special cases of ellipses, obtained when the cutting plane is orthogonal to the cone's axis...
visual device to distort the viewer's perspective. In this case the robe of the male flyer - or Fate (Morirai) - brings him almost out of the canvas and much closer to the viewer than the female flyer. Like Atropos, this work is one of the only from the series in which its intended meaning can be deduced from its classical sources.
This work was originally created on cloth hung on a wall, and like most of the others in the series, painted over an earlier version of the scene. Goya placed the work on the side walls of the upper floor of the Quinta. It was later transferred to canvas, and today is on permanent display with the other works from the series at the Museo del Prado
Museo del Prado
The Museo del Prado is the main Spanish national art museum, located in central Madrid. It features one of the world's finest collections of European art, from the 12th century to the early 19th century, based on the former Spanish Royal Collection, and unquestionably the best single collection of...
, Madrid. According to writer Rolfh Kentish, it is an example of Goya's,
- "versatility and capacity to reflect large and small groups, darkness and light, the naked and the clothed, landscape and interior, animals, day-to-day themes and themes of the imagination and, sometimes, a strange mixture of the two."