Francisco Goya

Picture
Picture

Biography

      Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was born on March 30th 1746 in Aragón Spain. He is known as one of Spain's most famous painters and print makers to this day. Goya attended school at "Escuelas Pias" and entered in an apprenticeship at the early age of fourteen under the watch of painter José Luzán.  After studying under Luzán for a while he decided to move to Madrid where he studied various other painters.

     After some years of working on developing his own style his presence became known among Spanish Royals (with the help of his marriage to a woman who's brother was a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Art.) Goya earned his way into the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. During this period his art became more and more well known as he painted portraits of the royals. In 1786 Goya was appointed as the painter of Charles III and was made court painter to Charles IV. His portraits were known for kindly flattering the royal members.

     Goya's life took a rather large turn when he contracted cholera in 1792 and became deaf. This caused him to become rather intorverted and introspective. During this time he became very interested in reading about the French Revolution. He was disturbed by the Revolution and this inspired his works titled Caprichos. These images were dark and often depicted "the sleep of reason". They also displayed Goya's satirical whit .

     He later bought a house in Manzaneres which later became known as the "Quinta del Sordo". There he worked on what were called his "Black Paintings". Goya left in 1824 for Paris. He died in 1828 at the age of 82.

Works

Two of Goya's most famous pieces are known as "La maja desnuda" and the "La maja vestida". The paintings show the same woman in the same position but in one painting she is clothes and in the other painting she is nude. His motivation for the pieces were in response to outrage from Spanish society from the original  "Desnuda" which was actually the first large scale nude painting of a woman in western culture. Instead of painting over the piece he created a new painting with her clothed.

Picture
1800
Picture
1803
Black Paintings and Disasters
At his house "La quinta del sordo" Goya painted many unusual paintings on canvas and even on his walls. Some of the predominant themes included witchcraft and war.  One of these famous pieces, entitled "Saturn Devouring his Sons". Some view this as a reflection os Spain's civil warconflicts. The painting has also been seen as "the most essential to our understanding of the human condition in modern times."

Picture
During his period of Black Paintings (1810-1820). Goya did a series of rather terrifying aquatint prints titled "los desastres de la guerra" which depicted horrific scenes of battle from the Peninsular War. They represent a distraught conscience in the face of war and destruction.
Picture
Plate 36
Picture
Is this what you were born for?
Picture

Check out some videos on Goya below!