GOYA RESEARCH CENTER

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) has been called “the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns.” He lived through a period of tremendous societal change, spanning from monarchy to revolution and witnessing both the promise of the Enlightenment and the horrors of war. These upheavals were reflected in his art, which began in the refined traditions of the Spanish court and ended with the harrowing visions of his Black Paintings. Throughout it all, he used his work as a painter, draftsman, and printmaker to reflect on universal themes of class, politics, technology, and human nature in a way that speaks directly to our time.

In July 2024, the Hispanic Society unveiled a project to deepen the understanding and broaden the appreciation of this pioneering artist. The Goya Research Center brings together academics and curators from New York and across the world to promote a variety of initiatives aimed at advancing the study of Goya and bringing him to new audiences. Among other things, the Goya Research Center supports:

Scholarly Innovation: The Center shapes novel approaches to studying Goya through a fellowship program; new technical, interpretive, and archival research projects; and original publications.
Digital Documentation: A key function of the Center is photographing and cataloguing the Hispanic Society’s collection of Goya prints and drawings and making them available digitally.
Creative Outreach: Through a dedicated research blog, short videos, and its social media presence, the Center will help expand the appreciation of Goya to a broad audience.
Landmark Programming: The Center will present an ambitious slate of exhibitions and public programs, as well as convene an annual symposium devoted to Goya studies.

Stay tuned for announcements of new projects and to learn how to connect with the Goya Research Center digitally.

SEARCH THE COLECTION:

See works by Goya at the Hispanic Society

TEAM:

Dr. Patrick Lenaghan, Co-Director of the Goya Research Center

An internationally acclaimed scholar, Patrick Lenaghan received his B.A. from Columbia University and his Ph.D. from the Institute of Fine Arts, N.Y.U. He has worked at The Hispanic Society since 1995 as Head of the Department of Prints and Photographs. Dr. Lenaghan has organized numerous exhibitions, including Gilded Figures (2021) and Picasso and the Spanish Classics (2023) at the Hispanic Society and Imágenes del Quijote at the Museo Nacional del Prado. He has written widely on Spanish Renaissance and Baroque sculpture (Luisa Roldán. Escultora Real, Pedro de Mena Granatensis Malacae, and Art in Spain and the Hispanic World: Essays in Honor of Jonathan Brown). Dr. Lenaghan has also studied the history of the Hispanic Society collection, particularly its sculpture and its relation to Seville (Madrider Mitteilungen, José Gestoso y Sevilla, Visiones de España). In 2018, Dr. Lenaghan was named a corresponding member of the Real Academia de Sta. Isabel de Hungría in Seville, delivering his discurso de ingreso on March 17, 2018. Goya has featured consistently in Dr. Lenaghan’s work at the museum from acquisitions to publications and exhibitions. He has published on the artist’s graphic works, including in From Goya to Picasso: A Century of Spanish Printmaking, catalogue entries for Tesoros de la Hispanic Society of America, and an extended review of Nigel Glendinning’s Goya y sus críticos (y otros ensayos).

Maria Minuesa, Goya Research Center Fellow

Maria Minuesa Sicilia is the first recipient of the Goya Research Center Fellowship. Ms. Minuesa Sicilia previously worked in the Education Department at the Hispanic Society and holds a B.A. from Colby College in French and Art History as well as an M.A. in Art History from Williams College with a focus on Spanish art. She has presented on Goya’s prints at the Clark Art Institute and wrote her Masters thesis on Luisa Roldán’s depictions of decapitated saints. “I am thrilled and delighted to have the opportunity to continue working on the art I am so passionate about in such a historically important and rich collection,” says Ms. Minuesa Sicilia. During her fellowship, she will focus on the Goya Center’s digitization project and will work on launching the Center’s blog and social media presence.

Kirk Swinehart, Photographer

Kirk Davis Swinehart is a New York-based artist specializing in architectural, interior, cultural heritage, and industrial photography. He is also a professional historian and former university professor with formal curatorial training. Kirk trained at the Winterthur Museum as a specialist in the decorative arts of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century America and Britain, completing his M.A. at Winterthur in 1995. Kirk earned his Ph.D. in 2002 from Yale where he studied the arts and history of British North America with an emphasis on early-modern Ireland and on the Iroquois peoples of colonial New York. Following a year-long stint at the University of Cambridge as the Mellon Research Fellow in American History, Kirk joined the faculty at Wesleyan University, where he taught for nine years. Kirk’s writing and research have been supported by major fellowships from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Huntington Library, and the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars & Writers at the New York Public Library, among others. His photographic and written work have appeared in Elle Décor, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere.

DIGITIZATION CENTER:

A major initiative of the Goya Research Center is the digitization of the Hispanic Society’s incomparable collection of the artist’s work. In addition to the museum’s world-famous portrait of the Duchess of Alba, the Hispanic Society is home to an important group of paintings, drawings and prints. These include rare proofs and first editions of all Goya’s major print series: the Caprichos, the Tauromaquia, the Desastres de la guerra, and the Disparates. Spearheaded by the Goya Research Fellow and photographer Kirk Swinehard, the digitization of these materials will offer scholars access to this unparalleled collection.

SCHOLARLY ACTIVITY:

On July 23, 2024, the Goya Research Center held its first meeting with participating curators and invited scholars. Delegations from major New York museums offered brief presentations of the holdings of Goya in their institutions, as well as the history of the collecting by which each museum came to hold their artworks by Goya. The ensuing discussion proved fruitful and opened avenues for future research and programming. The next meeting of the group is planned for early 2025. That meeting will be held at the HSML where staff will present works that have been attributed to Goya in the past and compare them with others of unquestionable authenticity.

The meeting was attended by: Guillaume Kientz (The Hispanic Society, co-director of the Goya Research Center), Patrick Lenaghan (The Hispanic Society, co-director of the Goya Research Center), Noemí Espinosa (The Hispanic Society), Natalie Espino (The Hispanic Society), Susan Galassi (The Frick Collection, emerita), David Pullins (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), Dorothy Mahon (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), John Marciari (The Morgan Library), Lisa Small (The Brooklyn Museum of Art), Janis Tomlinson (University of Delaware, emerita), Professor Ana Castro Santamaría (Universidad de Salamanca, special invited guest)

SPONSORS:

This project was made possible by the generous support of:
Gregory Annenberg Weingarten, GRoW @ Annenberg
Fundación María Cristina Masaveu Peterson
Jasmine Charity Trust: Sponsorship in Memory of Regina Jaglom Wachter