Eclogue
1784. Pencil, Grey-brown wash.Not on display
This is a magnificent example of Paret’s skill as a draughtsman, in which an elaborate execution process is more than evident. First, he executed the entire composition in pencil. He subsequently outlined it with a pen to delimit the contours and highlight the details. Finally, he applied ink washes with a brush, overlapping layers to achieve different intensities, thus resulting in a chiaroscuro effect. Despite such a thorough process, the final drawing is lively and spontaneous.
In this work, he plays with space in an artificial way, as he had previously done a year earlier in the portrait of his wife. As the artist himself states in a handwritten annotation, this drawing it is a representation of the lyrical genre of the eclogue through its characteristic attributes that are dignified by means of a classical framing that, contrary to what might be thought, does not integrate them since it is located on a plane just behind them. With this pretence, he may wish to emphasise the fictional nature of this literary composition.
The eclogue is defined by its idealisation of rural life and is included in the bucolic genre. generally, its protagonists are shepherds who talk about their love affairs in a paradisiacal natural setting with a significant musical presence, both of which appear in this drawing. The rugged aspects of nature are shown through the vegetation and through the herm with the bust of a satyr, who in turn alludes to the loving nature of the written words. The staff, bag and straw hat represent the shepherds, whereas the thoroughly decorated flute and bagpipe signify the musical component.
In the composition, Paret includes two books in which the most important authors of pastoral poetry and novels are listed as well as a closed book of the story of Daphnis and Chloe by the Greek novelist Longus (2nd century), quoted in Latin. Listed first in the open volume on the left is the Greek poet Theocritus (ca. 310–260 BC), of whose Idylls the artist owned a copy. He is followed by the Latin writer Virgil (70–19 BC), author of the Bucolics. Next comes Jacopo Sannazaro (1457–1530), who re-established the genre in the Renaissance with Arcadia. Below him is Torquato Tasso (1544–1595), who succeeded extraordinarily with his pastoral drama Aminta. The last name written on that page, ‘Mari [illegible]’, so far unidentified, could correspond, if we interpret the last stroke as a partial ‘n’, to Giambattista Marino (1569–1625), who composed poems on rural themes in his Rhymes or The Lyre. Nevertheless, it could also refer to Lucrezia Marinella (1571–1653), author of the pastoral novel Arcadia felice, among other works.
The other page of the book only includes the name of Spanish poet Garcilaso de la Vega (ca. 1501–1536), a figure who was rediscovered precisely in the 18th century after being unpublished for more than a century. In 1702, Cienfuegos considered him the poet to be compared to foreigners, the one who elevated the Spanish language to the standards of the classics, a notion Paret seems to echo by including his name alongside that of Theocritus. Afterwards, many authors such as Ignacio de Luzán, Gregorio Mayans and Luis José Velázquez would highlight the gentleness, elegance, clarity and plainness of Garcilaso’s poetry, virtues that were to be recovered in Neoclassical texts. However, the author’s definitive consecration as the pinnacle of the Parnassus of Spanish poetry was ensured in 1765, when the annotated edition of his works was published by José Nicolás de Azara.
Paret thus saw himself immersed in the contemporary discussions concerning the aesthetics of classicism. He always remained faithful to classicism, both in his training and interests, which becomes most evident in the final years of his production, as is shown among other works in the numerous allegories, frontispieces and portrait frames he designed at that time.
This drawing forms a pair with another, titled Ode or Epic, the whereabouts of which remain unknown. According to different authors, both have been considered either as part of a publishing project or, on the other hand, as independent works.
Albarrán, Virginia, 'Luis Paret y Alcázar. la égloga' En:. Paret, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2022, p.184-185 nº 45
