La boda

Cristina Santander

1989

The Wedding

calcography
paper

height: 36cm
width: 50cm

Print

Donated by Albino Dieguez Videla 1995

30-1995

Santander’s 'La Boda, The Wedding,' is a reworking of Goya’s painting of the same name dating from 1792. The composition is reversed but repeats the distinctive arrangement of a group of figures framed by a large dark arch and back lit by the bright sky behind. In the Goya, in typical sardonic fashion, the wedding is explicitly a marriage of convenience between a pretty young girl and a richly dressed but unattractive, lascivious-looking older man. The men accompanying the couple are smirking at the situation and especially at her mercenary father, while the female guests look anxiously at the girl, sympathising with her predicament. Santander puts the central group, already emphasised by the arch, into a picture within a picture, in sharper focus and brighter colours than the outer area. She also reorganises the key players: the bride, in her bright blue dress, still stands stiff and uncomfortable in the centre but now it is her father, with his big neckerchief, who hovers behind her while the groom faces in the other direction and looks distinctly put out. The implication is that the father is experiencing a crisis of conscience and is now questioning his actions. The gesticulating young boy on the cart who in the Goya seems to be simply having fun could now be read as celebrating this change of heart.

This print is a complex mix of techniques including etching, aquatint and collagraphy, as well as the ‘a la poupée’ form of dabbing colours on to the plate with a small bundle of cloth. It is part of a series of prints based on works by Goya that Santander made in 1989, the 'Divertimientos Goyescos,' which in turn is a subseries of the 'Suite Española,' all based on her close observation of works of art in the Prado Museum.
Valerie Fraser

2020