Francisco de Goya y Lucientes is a Spanish artist who was most prominent during the time of the Spanish Enlightenment, between the years 1759 to 1788, when Spain underwent extreme economic, industrial, and agricultural reform. This occurred during rule of Bourbon king Charles III, who began his reign by appointing radical-minded ministers with an aim of inducing change. Goya’s work can hardly be generalized due to the drastic differences within his own creation; however, there are stylistic tendencies of his art that makes it distinct. Most of Goya’s pieces include at least one person, and the style by which he depicts their face, specifically its micro-expressions and structure, is extremely detailed and effectively portrays symbolism throughout each piece.

“Porque esconderlos?”, translated into English as “Why hide them?”, clearly illustrates Goya’s revolutionary style of adding symbolism through detail in the faces of his artwork. “Porque esconderlos?”, currently on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, is an etching, burning aquatint and drypoint that depicts an elderly man sorrowfully bent on his knees, surrounded by what seems to be a crowd of youthful aristocrats mocking him. The bent figure is desperately holding two bags filled with some sort of material, and one of the members of the crowd appears to be carrying an identical bag; beneath the scene is text that reads “Porque esconderlos?” Nonetheless, the most distinctive and attention-drawing aspect of the piece is the facials expressions of each character.

Concerning the face of the elderly man, its structure is quite hollowed, which is expressed through the shading and shadow play that Goya uses. The man’s cheeks and eyes are severely sunken in, and the wrinkles on his forehead and lips are dramatically darkened, while the top of his head is covered by some sort of garment, which covers his hair and adds to the man’s overall resemblance to a bare human skull. The faces of the crowd that surrounds him, however, reveal a completely opposite aesthetic to that of the elderly man. They do not possess as much detail nor as many markings around their eyes and on their cheeks, which depicts supple skin, indicating lack of aging or youth. Compared to the man, whose eyes are wide open, their eyes are squinted enough so that their irises and pupils cannot be seen, and they are curved into an arc similar to that of a rainbow, supplementing their smiles to convey feelings of joy and humor.

The piece can be interpreted as an impoverished man who discovers money that was purposefully hidden from him by a crowd of wealthy aristocrats who were meaning to ridicule his desperation. These circumstances are supported by the text of the piece, for out of disbelief and anguish the man may have been provoked to say “Porque esconderlos?” He may have been asking “why hide the money that I needed?”, “why hide something that could save my life?”. The symbolism behind the detail of the faces corresponds with this plausible interpretation as well. The skull-like design of the elderly man’s face alludes to both his past and previous suffering, as though his circumstances have brought him to the brink of death. The contrast between the appearance of the crowd and the man further illustrates the dissimilarities between them. The crowd appears youthful, with full faces, and shading by Goya portrays folds in their skin from excess fat, a sign of wealth and good health. The distinctions in appearance between the two focus points of the piece provide symbolism of their polarization in wealth, success, desperation and opportunity.

Goya’s symbolic detail in the facials expressions of his subjects extends beyond just “Porque esconderlos?”. “Las Viejas”, one of Goya’s paintings, depicts two women huddled together, with an angel prepared to strike them from behind. The woman to the left of the viewer is dressed in black, holding a piece of paper with text that reads “Que tal?” which translates into English as “What’s happening?”. The woman to the right of the viewer is dressed in pale colors, and is looking upon the same paper. Similarly to the elderly man, the woman dressed in black also shows facial detail that resembles a human skull, including sunken cheeks and protruding teeth. It appears as though she is a symbol of death, and possibly hell, and so the detail in her face supports this symbolism. As for the angel, his features are softened through a blurred appearance and subtle color scheme, demonstrating drastic contrast to the woman dressed in black. His appearance pertains closely to a general standard of beauty, as can be seen in the perfection of his facial proportions, and as a result, the angel evokes feelings of innocence and faultlessness. This develops symbolism behind the angel as a figure of justice and righteousness. The polarization of the characteristics within the faces of the woman dressed in black and the angel, like the elderly man and the crowd, augments their distance in purpose and ambition. “Las Viejas” and “Porque esconderlos?” are not the only examples of Goya’s art that serve as demonstrations of his symbolic detail, though they are model cases of this distinct design.

In most other examples of art during this period there is a clear effort to portray the subject as realistically as possible. However, Goya chooses to clarify the symbolism behind his pieces by dramatizing the faces within them. This technique adds a subtle abstract influence to his artwork, allowing the viewer to explore their own interpretation of his fluid expression, as well as adding emotional rhetoric behind his paintings. Goya’s later pieces are often considered pessimistic, as they are usually depicting gruesome scenes of violence, and so his style of adding meaningful detail in the faces of the people he depicts evolves his pieces into something multi-faceted. Goya’s novelty technique can be viewed as advancement from the rigid limitations of realism, and so his influence during the Spanish Enlightenment is considered rather revolutionary. Through his innovative stylistic tendencies and unique polish, such as the use of symbolic detail in the depiction of the facial expressions of his subjects, Goya adds dimension to his pieces that complement the aesthetic of his artwork with emotion and sensation.