Mark McDonald
"Moving beyond the hyperfocused way in which Goya is often regarded, this is an important step forward that provides a new lens through which to examine the artist and his work." —Mark McDonald, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Mieke Bal
"Between painting and reading, intermediality strikes. This book explores the different ways a master painter addressed reading as an intermedial companion in his art. Between the political, the self-reflective, the enigmatic and more, reading accompanies Goya's visual depictions in ways never before examined with such creative precision as in this study." —Mieke Bal, Amsterdam School of Cultural Analysis, author of Image-Thinking: Artmaking as Cultural Analysis
Anthony J. Cascardi
"Martín-Estudillo does a superb job of showing just how prevalent reading is in Goya's works, to the extent that one comes away quite amazed at having been shown something quite prominent that has gone mostly overlooked by many, many commentators and critics." —Anthony J. Cascardi, UC Berkeley, author of Francisco de Goya and the Art of Critique
Janis A. Tomlinson
"Living in an era in which readership and the diversity of texts flourished, Goya not only read, but explored in paintings, prints, and drawings the shifting connotations of reading: as intellectual or spiritual inspiration, as fashion ornament, or as path to self-discovery, saintliness, perversion, or madness. In this engrossing study of readers in Goya's art, Martín-Estudillo focuses on a theme too long overlooked, and he masterfully unveils the richness and nuanced implications of Goya’s imagery." —Janis A. Tomlinson, author of Goya: A Portrait of the Artist