Jovellanos, A Spanish Moderate
Douglas Hilt profiles a statesman, jurist and man of letters who devoted his generous gifts to the service of Bourbon Spain.
In a laconic caption to the most impelling of the Caprichos, Goya prophetically observed that ‘the sleep of reason produces monsters’. Published in 1799, the series of mordant etchings presage the supplantation of the measured Age of Reason by an Age of Madness.
Probably no other Spaniard felt the moral deterioration more keenly than the artist’s friend and patron, Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos.
Fair-minded and moderate to a fault, his country’s most illustrious mind, Jovellanos epitomized the discernment and progressive philosophy of the siglo de las luces. Generally acknowledged the most eminent Spaniard of the period - Goya would have been the first to concede him the accolade - in his waning years Jovellanos was to suffer unjust vilification and a cruel imprisonment for having upheld his principles.
Yet upon his release at the age of sixty-four, this gentle poet, jurist, economist and reformer emerged as an unyielding patriot in the struggle against the ‘enlightened’ French invader. From every standpoint, Jovellanos was unquestionably the conscience of his age.
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