The frescoes that Francisco de Goya y Lucientes (Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, 1746-Burdeos, 1828) painted in the Madrid hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida, in its dome, vaults, pendentives and apse, in just four months at the end of 1798, they represent one of the cultural wonders that can be enjoyed for free in the capital and a magnificent example that synthesizes the prodigious art of the painter of
The Executions of May 3
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The sober neoclassical church, located a few meters from the Manzanares River, houses the free version that the genius captured of a miracle attributed to San Antonio de Padua.
After the paintings were restored for the last time in 2005, the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando (Rabasf), which ensures the good artistic conservation of the complex, has sent a letter to Ana de la Cueva, president of National Heritage, the entity that owns the building, in which he warns of the need to "fix the roof of the temple to avoid possible leaks", the president of the Academy, Tomás Marco, told EL PAÍS by telephone.
The letter, dated June 7, has been sent with a copy to the Madrid City Council, since the hermitage is cataloged as a municipal museum.
The Consistory took charge of its cultural management in 1987, after an agreement with Heritage.
The reason for the letter from the Academy is in an event that occurred on Sunday, May 29, during opening hours to the public, when a piece of the roof slipped and threatened to fall into the void and harm a visitor, EL PAÍS has learned from institution sources.
In the plenary session that the Academy held on June 6, the attendees were made aware of the incident, thanks to a technical report from a conservator of the hermitage, which caused "great concern" among the academics, according to one of the attendees.
A technician from the company in charge of the repair removed the piece, but because it was Sunday, he could not replace it with another until the following day, with the obvious danger that the paintings could be damaged in a few hours when there was a risk of storms.
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"The paintings are in perfect condition," qualifies Marco, who has directed the Academy since December 2020. "In the short term they are not in danger, but they must be taken care of, and a plan to restore the roofs has been approved for a long time, so We urge both institutions to act as soon as possible.”
The letter expressly states "the seriousness of the situation", for which "urgent repair" is requested to "avoid risks to the safety of people and the integrity of the paintings."
Facade of the hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida, where Goya's frescoes and the painter's tomb are. GETTY IMAGES
National Heritage has confirmed to this newspaper that there is such a repair plan.
“We are going to fulfill our part of the agreement.”
However, the works "will begin in 2023", although these sources have not specified in what month.
"The cost will be 913,000 euros, it will last about 10 months and it will be financed with European funds from the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan."
Heritage adds that in this action a scaffolding will be installed on the outside, although in principle it is not planned that the hermitage will have to be closed to visitors.
“The roof will be renovated, including thermal insulation, restoration of the façade enclosures, renovation of exterior carpentry, and inside, LED lighting will be installed in the chapel area and the heating will be improved.”
For their part, municipal sources have pointed out on this matter that "the works on the roofs have to be carried out, by competence, National Heritage, since it is not a matter of maintenance, which in that case would be the responsibility of the City Council."
The frescoes of the hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida were executed by Goya when he was 52 years old, in a moment of creative plenitude, although he had been deaf for six years due to illness.
The commission probably came from his friend Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, then a minister of King Carlos IV.
The building had been erected between 1792 and 1798 according to the design of the Italian architect and painter Felipe Fontana, commissioned by the monarch himself.
The small church, with a Greek cross plan, represents in its dome, with a fake railing on which a multitude of characters lean, the miracle of Saint Anthony.
In this episode, the Franciscan was in Padua when he learned that his father was being accused of a murder in Lisbon.
Until there he moved miraculously and asked to see the deceased so that he could declare whether or not his father was guilty.
Goya painted as the central scene, the one that the faithful saw when accessing the then main entrance, the moment in which the saint, elevated on a rock, interrogates the deceased, who is naked, with folded hands and held by a man.
Main scene of the frescoes, in which the saint interrogates the deceased, who appears naked.
Around him, the crowd attends, for the most part, in awe of the scene, which Goya set in his time, not in the 13th century.
Hence, it included majas, children, beggars, peasants, a possible self-portrait and some enigmatic and sinister characters, a precedent for black paintings.
All sketched and with brushstrokes that provide a sense of relief.
This popular temple was declared a National Monument in 1905 and has housed the mortal remains of Goya since 1919, transferred from Bordeaux.
As is known, the artist is buried in the granite tomb inside, together with his in-law, Martín Miguel de Goicoechea, since both were buried in 1828 in France.
Furthermore, Goya was missing his head when the remains were brought back.
It has always been suspected that it was cut to carry out phrenological studies with it, a doctrine in vogue in the 19th century that held that certain psychic faculties were located in precise areas of the brain.
In 1928 a twin church was built just a few meters away, precisely to preserve Goya's frescoes in the face of the great fervor that the temple generated among the people of Madrid, since Saint Anthony was the patron saint of young single women.
The complex was restored in 1940, after a shell caused a hole in the deck during the Civil War;
then, in 1955, 1977... In 1987, when Heritage gave it to the City Council, "the mural complex once again presented serious damage", informs the brochure that is distributed at the entrance.
Since then, successive campaigns to rehabilitate the temple and restore the frescoes have been undertaken, until the one in 2005.
Precisely, a panel in the interior details how that last intervention was, in which cracks were filled, the dirt from the paintings was cleaned and the color was fixed in some areas that had lost it.
Until today.
On Thursday, June 16, the usual scene of Spanish and foreign tourists in the hermitage was repeated inside, gaping at the dome and the three mirrors that help to contemplate it.
Beside him, a guide explained the history of the frescoes to a group of elderly people while the other visitors listened to his words to try to understand how Goya achieved what he called "the magic of the environment" in which some people consider like the Spanish Sistine Chapel.
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