Goya's The Junta of the Philippines (1815) at the Goya Museum at Castres is the largest work the artist ever painted (327 x 417 cm). The painting depicts the Spanish king, Ferdinand VII, presiding over a meeting of the Real Compa±fa de Filipinas [Royal Company of the Philippines], a publicly-held trading company. Once the subject has been identified, however, the work remains strikingly unusual. The painting features a group of men seated at a raised table who face a room in which, on either side of a broad expanse of carpet, two groups of men face each other, ranged in rows of chairs. Another man stands at the left, in the doorway to the room. The painting is remarkably difficult to read because the solemn air of the Junta (or board of directors) at the high table contrasts with the variety of types of men in the chairs who, for the most part, seem to exhibit 40 different kinds of boredom and inattention. Art historians, lacking much information about the picture, tended to claim that the mystery is an intrinsic part of the work. But, as scholars assemble more information about the circumstances depicted and the reasons for the commission, the mystery tends to fade and the painting gains focus as a sharp comment on historic circumstances that go far beyond the confines of this strange room.
Licht held that the action of the painting was "unfathomable" and stated that it was "hardly plausible" that this was a history painting which "aim[ed] at illustrating a particular moment in the existence of the corporation . . . because nothing is happening." Symmons held that the work "makes a mystery out of the etiquette of a meeting." She concluded that Goya's various effects "combine to intrigue and puzzle the spectator [and] it is likely that a contemporary audience found [the] work equally diverting." Both art historians argued that the essence of the painting is to be found in the manner in which Goya depicted space and ...