Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish
romantic painter and
printmaker
Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...
. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and engravings reflected contemporary historical upheavals and influenced important 19th- and 20th-century painters. Goya is often referred to as the last of the
s and the first of the
moderns
The organisation now known as the Premier Grand Lodge of England was founded on 24 June 1717 as the Grand Lodge of London and Westminster. Originally concerned with the practice of Freemasonry in London and Westminster, it soon became known as ...
.
Goya was born to a middle-class family in 1746, in
Fuendetodos
Fuendetodos is a town in the Campo de Belchite comarca (county), in Aragon, Spain, located about 44 kilometers south-east of Zaragoza. As of 2011, it had a population of approximately 178.
The town is associated with painter Francisco de Goya, w ...
in
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
. He studied painting from age 14 under
José Luzán y Martinez and moved to
Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
to study with
Anton Raphael Mengs
Anton Raphael Mengs (22 March 1728 – 29 June 1779) was a German people, German painter, active in Dresden, Rome, and Madrid, who while painting in the Rococo period of the mid-18th century became one of the precursors to Neoclassicism, Neoclas ...
. He married
Josefa Bayeu
Josefa Bayeu y Subías (1747 – 1812) was the sister of artist Francisco Bayeu, and wife of artist Francisco Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish Romanticism, romantic painter and Printmak ...
in 1773. Their life was characterised by a series of pregnancies and miscarriages, and only one child, a son, survived into adulthood. Goya became a court painter to the
Spanish Crown
, coatofarms = File:Coat_of_Arms_of_Spanish_Monarch.svg
, coatofarms_article = Coat of arms of the King of Spain
, image = Felipe_VI_in_2020_(cropped).jpg
, incumbent = Felipe VI
, incumbentsince = 19 Ju ...
in 1786 and this early portion of his career is marked by portraits of the Spanish
aristocracy
Aristocracy (, ) is a form of government that places strength in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocracy (class), aristocrats. The term derives from the el, αριστοκρατία (), meaning 'rule of the best'.
At t ...
and royalty, and
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
-style
tapestry cartoons designed for the royal palace.
He was guarded, and although letters and writings survive, little is known about his thoughts. He had a severe and undiagnosed illness in 1793 which left him
deaf
Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...
, after which his work became progressively darker and pessimistic. His later
easel
An easel is an upright support used for displaying and/or fixing something resting upon it, at an angle of about 20° to the vertical. In particular, easels are traditionally used by painters to support a painting while they work on it, normally ...
and
mural
A mural is any piece of graphic artwork that is painted or applied directly to a wall, ceiling or other permanent substrate. Mural techniques include fresco, mosaic, graffiti and marouflage.
Word mural in art
The word ''mural'' is a Spani ...
paintings,
prints
In molecular biology, the PRINTS database is a collection of so-called "fingerprints": it provides both a detailed annotation resource for protein families, and a diagnostic tool for newly determined sequences. A fingerprint is a group of conserve ...
and
drawing
Drawing is a form of visual art in which an artist uses instruments to mark paper or other two-dimensional surface. Drawing instruments include graphite pencils, pen and ink, various kinds of paints, inked brushes, colored pencils, crayons, ...
s appear to reflect a bleak outlook on personal, social and political levels, and contrast with his social climbing. He was appointed Director of the Royal Academy in 1795, the year
Manuel Godoy
Manuel Godoy y Álvarez de Faria, Prince of the Peace, 1st Duke of Alcudia, 1st Duke of Sueca, 1st Baron of Mascalbó (12 May 17674 October 1851) was First Secretary of State of Spain from 1792 to 1797 and from 1801 to 1808. He received many t ...
made an unfavorable treaty with France. In 1799, Goya became ''Primer Pintor de Cámara'' (Prime Court Painter), the highest rank for a Spanish
court painter
A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...
. In the late 1790s, commissioned by Godoy, he completed his ''
La maja desnuda
''The Naked Maja'' or ''The Nude Maja'' ( es, La maja desnuda ) is an oil on canvas painting made around 1797–1800 by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It portrays a nude woman reclining on a ...
'', a remarkably daring nude for the time and clearly indebted to
Diego Velázquez
Diego Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez (baptized June 6, 1599August 6, 1660) was a Spanish painter, the leading artist in the court of King Philip IV of Spain and Portugal, and of the Spanish Golden Age. He was an individualistic artist of th ...
. In 1800–01 he painted ''
Charles IV of Spain and His Family
''Charles IV of Spain and His Family'' is an oil-on-canvas group portrait painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. He began work on the painting in 1800, shortly after he became First Chamber Painter to the royal family, and completed it i ...
'', also influenced by Velázquez.
In 1807,
Napoleon
Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...
led the French army into the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
against Spain. Goya remained in Madrid during the war, which seems to have affected him deeply. Although he did not speak his thoughts in public, they can be inferred from his ''
Disasters of War
''The Disasters of War'' ( es, Los desastres de la guerra) is a series of 8280 prints in the first published edition (1863), for which the last two plates were not available. See "Execution". prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spani ...
'' series of prints (although published 35 years after his death) and his 1814 paintings ''
The Second of May 1808
''The Second of May 1808, by Goya'', also known as ''The Charge of the Mamelukes'' ( es, El 2 de mayo de 1808 en Madrid, or ), is a painting by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. It is a companion to the painting ''The Third of May 1808'' ...
'' and ''
The Third of May 1808
''The Third of May 1808'' (also known as or , or )The Museo del Prado entitles the work El 3 de mayo de 1808 en Madrid: los fusilamientos en la montaña del Príncipe Pío'' is a painting completed in 1814 by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, ...
''. Other works from his mid-period include the ''
Caprichos
''Los caprichos'' (''The Caprices)'' is a set of 80 prints in aquatint and etching created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797–1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya's condem ...
'' and ''
Los Disparates
''Los disparates'' (''The Follies''), also known as ''Proverbios'' (''Proverbs'') or ''Sueños'' (''Dreams''), is a series of prints in etching and aquatint, with retouching in drypoint and engraving, created by Spanish painter and printmaker Fra ...
''
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
series, and a wide variety of paintings concerned with
insanity
Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...
,
mental asylums,
witches
Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have use ...
,
fantastical creatures and
religious
Religion is usually defined as a social system, social-cultural system of designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morality, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sacred site, sanctified places, prophecy, prophecie ...
and
political corruption
Political corruption is the use of powers by government officials or their network contacts for illegitimate private gain.
Forms of corruption vary, but can include bribery, lobbying, extortion, cronyism, nepotism, parochialism, patronage, in ...
, all of which suggest that he feared for both his country's fate and his own mental and physical health.
His late period culminates with the ''
Black Paintings
The ''Black Paintings'' (Spanish: ''Pinturas negras'') is the name given to a group of 14 paintings by Francisco Goya from the later years of his life, likely between 1819 and 1823. They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his ...
'' of 1819–1823, applied on oil on the plaster walls of his house the
Quinta del Sordo (''House of the Deaf Man'') where, disillusioned by political and social developments in Spain, he lived in near isolation. Goya eventually abandoned Spain in 1824 to retire to the French city of
Bordeaux
Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefectur ...
, accompanied by his much younger maid and companion,
Leocadia Weiss, who may or may not have been his lover. There he completed his ''
La Tauromaquia
250px, Νο.18: ''The Daring of Martincho in the Ring at perspective, depicting the viewers in a rather unusual way in order to give to more dynamism to the work.
image:Autorretrato en el taller, Francisco de Goya.jpg, 130px, ''Self - portrait'' ...
'' series and a number of other, major, canvases.
Following a
stroke
A stroke is a medical condition in which poor blood flow to the brain causes cell death. There are two main types of stroke: ischemic, due to lack of blood flow, and hemorrhagic, due to bleeding. Both cause parts of the brain to stop functionin ...
which left him paralyzed on his right side, and with failing eyesight and poor access to painting materials, he died and was buried on 16 April 1828 aged 82. His body was later re-interred in the
Real Ermita de San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid. Famously, the skull was missing, a detail the Spanish consul immediately communicated to his superiors in Madrid, who wired back, "Send Goya, with or without head."
Early years (1746–1771)
Francisco de Goya was born in
Fuendetodos
Fuendetodos is a town in the Campo de Belchite comarca (county), in Aragon, Spain, located about 44 kilometers south-east of Zaragoza. As of 2011, it had a population of approximately 178.
The town is associated with painter Francisco de Goya, w ...
,
Aragón
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises th ...
,
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, on 30 March 1746 to José Benito de Goya y Franque and Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador. The family had moved that year from the city of
Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...
, but there is no record why; likely José was commissioned to work there.
[Hughes (2004), 32] They were lower middle-class. José was the son of a
notary
A notary is a person authorised to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents. The form that the notarial profession takes varies with local legal systems.
A notary, while a legal professional, is disti ...
and of
Basque
Basque may refer to:
* Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France
* Basque language, their language
Places
* Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France
* Basque Country (autonomous co ...
origin, his ancestors being from
Zerain
Zerain is a town and municipality located in the Goierri region of the province of Gipuzkoa, in the autonomous community of the Basque Country, northern Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo ...
, earning his living as a
gilder, specialising in religious and decorative craftwork.
[Connell (2004), 6–7] He oversaw the gilding and most of the ornamentation during the rebuilding of the
Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar
:''See Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar (Buenos Aires) for the church in Buenos Aires''
The Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar ( es, Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is a Roman Catholic church in the city of Zaragoza ...
(''Santa Maria del Pilar''), the principal cathedral of Zaragoza. Francisco was their fourth child, following his sister Rita (b. 1737), brother Tomás (b. 1739) (who was to follow in his father's trade) and second sister Jacinta (b. 1743). There were two younger sons, Mariano (b. 1750) and Camilo (b. 1753).
[Hughes (2004), 27]
His mother's family had pretensions of nobility and the house, a modest brick cottage, was owned by her family and, perhaps fancifully, bore their
crest
Crest or CREST may refer to:
Buildings
*The Crest (Huntington, New York), a historic house in Suffolk County, New York
*"The Crest", an alternate name for 63 Wall Street, in Manhattan, New York
*Crest Castle (Château Du Crest), Jussy, Switzerla ...
.
About 1749 José and Gracia bought a home in Zaragoza and were able to return to live in the city. Although there are no surviving records, it is thought that Goya may have attended the Escuelas Pías de San Antón, which offered free schooling. His education seems to have been adequate but not enlightening; he had reading, writing and numeracy, and some knowledge of the classics. According to
Robert Hughes the artist "seems to have taken no more interest than a carpenter in philosophical or theological matters, and his views on painting ... were very down to earth: Goya was no theoretician."
[Hughes (2004), 33] At school he formed a close and lifelong friendship with fellow pupil
Martín Zapater
Martín Zapater y Clavería (12 November 1747, Zaragoza - 1803, Zaragoza) was a wealthy Aragonese merchant, with an enlightenment point of view. He is largely known for his close friendship with the famous artist, Francisco Goya. The letters th ...
; the 131 letters Goya wrote to him from 1775 until Zapater's death in 1803 give valuable insight into Goya's early years at the court in Madrid.
Visit to Italy
At age 14 Goya studied under the painter
José Luzán
José Luzán (1710 – 1785), also José Luzán y Martínez, was a Spanish Baroque painter.
Son of the painter and gilder of retablos Juan Luzán, Luzán married Teresa, daughter of John Zabalo, who was also a painter and designer of altarp ...
, where he copied stamps for 4 years until he decided to work on his own, as he wrote later on "paint from my invention". He moved to Madrid to study with
Anton Raphael Mengs
Anton Raphael Mengs (22 March 1728 – 29 June 1779) was a German people, German painter, active in Dresden, Rome, and Madrid, who while painting in the Rococo period of the mid-18th century became one of the precursors to Neoclassicism, Neoclas ...
, a popular painter with
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
royalty. He clashed with his master, and his examinations were unsatisfactory. Goya submitted entries for the
Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando
The Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando (RABASF; ), located on the Calle de Alcalá in the heart of Madrid, currently functions as a museum and gallery. A public law corporation, it is integrated together with other Spanish royal acad ...
in 1763 and 1766 but was denied entrance into the academia.
Rome was then the cultural capital of Europe and held all the prototypes of classical antiquity, while Spain lacked a coherent artistic direction, with all of its significant visual achievements in the past. Having failed to earn a scholarship, Goya relocated at his own expense to Rome in the old tradition of European artists stretching back at least to
Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer (; ; hu, Ajtósi Adalbert; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer (without an umlaut) or Due ...
.
[Hughes (2004), 34] He was an unknown at the time and so the records are scant and uncertain. Early biographers have him travelling to Rome with a gang of bullfighters, where he worked as a street
acrobat
Acrobatics () is the performance of human feats of balance, agility, and motor coordination. Acrobatic skills are used in performing arts, sporting events, and martial arts. Extensive use of acrobatic skills are most often performed in acro ...
, or for a Russian diplomat, or fell in love with a beautiful young nun whom he plotted to abduct from her convent.
[Hughes (2004), 37] It is possible that Goya completed two surviving mythological paintings during the visit, a ''Sacrifice to Vesta'' and a ''Sacrifice to Pan'', both dated 1771.
In 1771 he won second prize in a painting competition organized by the City of
Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmigiano-Reggiano, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 ...
. That year he returned to Zaragoza and painted elements of the
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome.
The word derives, via Italian, from ...
s of the
Basilica of the Pillar (including ''
Adoration of the Name of God''), a
cycle of frescoes for the monastic church of the
Charterhouse of Aula Dei, and the frescoes of the Sobradiel Palace. He studied with the Aragonese artist
Francisco Bayeu y Subías
Francisco Bayeu y Subías (9 March 1734, Zaragoza – 4 August 1795, Madrid) was a Spanish painter in the Neoclassic style, whose main subjects were religious and historical themes. He is best known for his frescoes. His brothers Ramón and ...
and his painting began to show signs of the delicate tonalities for which he became famous. He befriended Francisco Bayeu and married his sister
Josefa (he nicknamed her "Pepa") on 25 July 1773. Their first child, Antonio Juan Ramon Carlos, was born on 29 August 1774.
Madrid (1775–1789)
Francisco Bayeu
Francisco is the Spanish and Portuguese form of the masculine given name ''Franciscus''.
Nicknames
In Spanish, people with the name Francisco are sometimes nicknamed "Paco". San Francisco de Asís was known as ''Pater Comunitatis'' (father of ...
(Josefa Bayeu's brother), 1765 membership of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, and directorship of the tapestry works from 1777 helped Goya earn a commission for a series of tapestry cartoons for the Royal Tapestry Factory. Over five years he designed some 42 patterns, many of which were used to decorate and insulate the stone walls of
El Escorial
El Escorial, or the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial ( es, Monasterio y Sitio de El Escorial en Madrid), or Monasterio del Escorial (), is a historical residence of the King of Spain located in the town of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, u ...
and the
Palacio Real del Pardo, the residences of the Spanish monarchs. While designing tapestries was neither prestigious nor well paid, his cartoons are mostly popularist in a
rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
style, and Goya used them to bring himself to wider attention.
[Hagen & Hagen, 7]
The cartoons were not his only royal commissions, and were accompanied by a series of engravings, mostly copies after old masters such as
Marcantonio Raimondi
Marcantonio Raimondi, often called simply Marcantonio (c. 1470/82 – c. 1534), was an Italian engraver, known for being the first important printmaker whose body of work consists largely of prints copying paintings. He is therefore a key figu ...
and
Velázquez. Goya had a complicated relationship to the latter artist; while many of his contemporaries saw folly in Goya's attempts to copy and emulate him, he had access to a wide range of the long-dead painter's works that had been contained in the royal collection. Nonetheless, etching was a medium that the young artist was to master, a medium that was to reveal both the true depths of his imagination and his political beliefs. His c. 1779 etching of ''The Garrotted Man'' ("El agarrotado") was the largest work he had produced to date, and an obvious foreboding of his later "
Disasters of War
''The Disasters of War'' ( es, Los desastres de la guerra) is a series of 8280 prints in the first published edition (1863), for which the last two plates were not available. See "Execution". prints created between 1810 and 1820 by the Spani ...
" series.
Goya was beset by illness, and his condition was used against him by his rivals, who looked jealously upon any artist seen to be rising in stature. Some of the larger cartoons, such as ''The Wedding'', were more than 8 by 10 feet, and had proved a drain on his physical strength. Ever resourceful, Goya turned this misfortune around, claiming that his illness had allowed him the insight to produce works that were more personal and informal. However, he found the format limiting, as it did not allow him to capture complex color shifts or texture, and was unsuited to the
impasto
''Impasto'' is a technique used in painting, where paint is laid on an area of the surface thickly, usually thick enough that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provide ...
and
glazing techniques he was by then applying to his painted works. The tapestries seem as comments on human types, fashion and fads.
Other works from the period include a canvas for the altar of the
Church of San Francisco El Grande in Madrid, which led to his appointment as a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Art.
Court painter
In 1783, the
Count of Floridablanca
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
, favorite of
King Charles III
Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...
, commissioned Goya to paint his portrait. He became friends with the King's half-brother
Luis
Luis is a given name. It is the Spanish form of the originally Germanic name or . Other Iberian Romance languages have comparable forms: (with an accent mark on the i) in Portuguese and Galician, in Aragonese and Catalan, while is archaic ...
, and spent two summers working on portraits of both the Infante and his family. During the 1780s, his circle of patrons grew to include the
Duke and Duchess of Osuna, the King and other notable people of the kingdom whom he painted. In 1786, Goya was given a salaried position as painter to Charles III.
Goya was appointed court painter to Charles IV in 1789. The following year he became First Court Painter, with a salary of 50,000
reales and an allowance of 500
ducat
The ducat () coin was used as a trade coin in Europe from the later Middle Ages from the 13th to 19th centuries. Its most familiar version, the gold ducat or sequin containing around of 98.6% fine gold, originated in Venice in 1284 and gained wi ...
s for a coach. He painted portraits of the king and the queen, and the Spanish Prime Minister
Manuel de Godoy and many other nobles. These portraits are notable for their disinclination to flatter; his ''
Charles IV of Spain and His Family
''Charles IV of Spain and His Family'' is an oil-on-canvas group portrait painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. He began work on the painting in 1800, shortly after he became First Chamber Painter to the royal family, and completed it i ...
'' is an especially brutal assessment of a royal family. Modern interpreters view the portrait as satirical; it is thought to reveal the corruption behind the rule of Charles IV. Under his reign his wife
Louisa was thought to have had the real power, and thus Goya placed her at the center of the group portrait. From the back left of the painting one can see the artist himself looking out at the viewer, and the painting behind the family depicts
Lot
Lot or LOT or The Lot or ''similar'' may refer to:
Common meanings Areas
* Land lot, an area of land
* Parking lot, for automobiles
*Backlot, in movie production
Sets of items
*Lot number, in batch production
*Lot, a set of goods for sale togethe ...
and his daughters, thus once again echoing the underlying message of corruption and decay.
Goya earned commissions from the highest ranks of the
Spanish nobility
Spanish nobles are persons who possess the legal status of hereditary nobility according to the laws and traditions of the Spanish monarchy and historically also those who held personal nobility as bestowed by one of the three highest orders of ...
, including
Pedro Téllez-Girón, 9th Duke of Osuna
Pedro de Alcántara Téllez-Girón, 9th Duke of Osuna, Grandee of Spain (in full, es, Don Pedro de Alcántara María Cayetano Ciriaco Rafael Domingo Vicente Téllez-Girón y Pacheco, noveno duque de Osuna, décimo marqués de Peñafiel, conde ...
and his wife
María Josefa Pimentel, 12th Countess-Duchess of Benavente
Maria may refer to:
People
* Mary, mother of Jesus
* Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages
Place names Extraterrestrial
*170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877
*Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...
,
José Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba
Don José Álvarez de Toledo Osorio y Gonzaga, 11th Marquess of Villafranca, Grandee of Spain, '' jure uxoris'' Duke of Alba de Tormes, Grandee of Spain (16 July 1756 – 9 June 1796) was a patron of the artist Francisco Goya.
Biography
Álvarez ...
and his wife
María del Pilar de Silva, and
María Ana de Pontejos y Sandoval, Marchioness of Pontejos. In 1801 he painted Godoy in a commission to commemorate the victory in the brief
War of the Oranges
The War of the Oranges ( pt, Guerra das Laranjas; french: Guerre des Oranges; es, Guerra de las Naranjas) was a brief conflict in 1801 in which Spanish forces, instigated by the government of France, and ultimately supported by the French mil ...
against Portugal. The two were friends, even if Goya's
1801 portrait is usually seen as satire. Yet even after Godoy's fall from grace the politician referred to the artist in warm terms. Godoy saw himself as instrumental in the publication of the Caprichos and is widely believed to have commissioned ''
La maja desnuda
''The Naked Maja'' or ''The Nude Maja'' ( es, La maja desnuda ) is an oil on canvas painting made around 1797–1800 by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It portrays a nude woman reclining on a ...
''.
Middle period (1793–1799)
''La Maja Desnuda'' (''La maja desnuda'') has been described as "the first totally profane life-size female nude in Western art" without pretense to allegorical or mythological meaning. The identity of the ''Majas'' is uncertain. The most popularly cited models are the
Duchess of Alba
Duke of Alba de Tormes ( es, Duque de Alba de Tormes), commonly known as Duke of Alba, is a title of Spanish nobility that is accompanied by the dignity of Grandee of Spain. In 1472, the title of ''Count of Alba de Tormes'', inherited by ...
, with whom Goya was sometimes thought to have had an affair, and Pepita Tudó, mistress of
Manuel de Godoy. Neither theory has been verified, and it remains as likely that the paintings represent an idealized composite. The paintings were never publicly exhibited during Goya's lifetime and were owned by Godoy.
[The unflinching eye.](_blank)
''The Guardian'', October 2003. In 1808 all Godoy's property was seized by
Ferdinand VII
, house = Bourbon-Anjou
, father = Charles IV of Spain
, mother = Maria Luisa of Parma
, birth_date = 14 October 1784
, birth_place = El Escorial, Spain
, death_date =
, death_place = Madrid, Spain
, burial_plac ...
after his fall from power and exile, and in 1813 the
Inquisition
The Inquisition was a group of institutions within the Catholic Church whose aim was to combat heresy, conducting trials of suspected heretics. Studies of the records have found that the overwhelming majority of sentences consisted of penances, ...
confiscated both works as 'obscene', returning them in 1836 to the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
In 1798 he painted luminous and airy scenes for the
pendentive
In architecture, a pendentive is a constructional device permitting the placing of a circular dome over a square room or of an elliptical dome over a rectangular room. The pendentives, which are triangular segments of a sphere, taper to points ...
s and cupola of the
Real Ermita (Chapel) of San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid. Many of these depict miracles of
Saint Anthony of Padua
Anthony of Padua ( it, Antonio di Padova) or Anthony of Lisbon ( pt, António/Antônio de Lisboa; born Fernando Martins de Bulhões; 15 August 1195 – 13 June 1231) was a Portuguese Catholic priest and friar of the Franciscan Order. He was bor ...
set in the midst of contemporary Madrid.
At some time between late 1792 and early 1793 an undiagnosed illness left Goya deaf. He became withdrawn and introspective while the direction and tone of his work changed. He began the series of
aquatint
Aquatint is an intaglio printmaking technique, a variant of etching that produces areas of tone rather than lines. For this reason it has mostly been used in conjunction with etching, to give both lines and shaded tone. It has also been used h ...
ed
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
s, published in 1799 as the ''
Caprichos
''Los caprichos'' (''The Caprices)'' is a set of 80 prints in aquatint and etching created by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya in 1797–1798, and published as an album in 1799. The prints were an artistic experiment: a medium for Goya's condem ...
''—completed in parallel with the more official commissions of portraits and religious paintings. In 1799 Goya published 80 ''Caprichos'' prints depicting what he described as "the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual". The visions in these prints are partly explained by the caption "The sleep of reason produces monsters". Yet these are not solely bleak; they demonstrate the artist's sharp satirical wit, particularly evident in etchings such as ''Hunting for Teeth''.
While convalescing between 1793 and 1794, Goya completed a set of eleven small pictures painted on tin that mark a significant change in the tone and subject matter of his art, and draw from the dark and dramatic realms of fantasy nightmare. ''
Yard with Lunatics
''Yard with Lunatics'' (Spanish: ''Corral de locos'') is a small oil-on-tinplate painting completed by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya between 1793 and 1794. Goya said that the painting was informed by scenes of institutions he had witnessed ...
'' is a vision of loneliness, fear and social alienation. The condemnation of brutality towards prisoners (whether criminal or insane) is a subject that Goya assayed in later works
that focused on the degradation of the human figure. It was one of the first of Goya's mid-1790s
cabinet painting
A cabinet painting (or "cabinet picture") is a small painting, typically no larger than two feet (0.6 meters) in either dimension, but often much smaller. The term is especially used for paintings that show full-length figures or landscapes at a s ...
s, in which his earlier search for ideal beauty gave way to an examination of the relationship between naturalism and fantasy that would preoccupy him for the rest of his career. He was undergoing a nervous breakdown and entering prolonged physical illness, and admitted that the series was created to reflect his own self-doubt, anxiety and fear that he was losing his mind. Goya wrote that the works served "to occupy my imagination, tormented as it is by contemplation of my sufferings." The series, he said, consisted of pictures which "normally find no place in commissioned works."
Goya's physical and mental breakdown seems to have happened a few weeks after the French declaration of war on Spain. A contemporary reported, "The noises in his head and deafness aren't improving, yet his vision is much better and he is back in control of his balance."
These symptoms may indicate a prolonged viral encephalitis, or possibly a series of miniature strokes resulting from high blood pressure and which affected the hearing and balance centers of the brain. Symptoms of
tinnitus
Tinnitus is the perception of sound when no corresponding external sound is present. Nearly everyone experiences a faint "normal tinnitus" in a completely quiet room; but it is of concern only if it is bothersome, interferes with normal hearin ...
, episodes of balance disorder, imbalance and progressive deafness are typical of Ménière's disease.
It is possible that Goya had cumulative lead poisoning, as he used massive amounts of lead white—which he ground himself
[Historical Clinicopathological Conference (2017)](_blank)
University of Maryland School of Medicine, Retrieved 27 January 2017.—in his paintings, both as a canvas primer and as a primary color.
[Connell (2004), 78–79]
Other postmortem diagnostic assessments point toward paranoid dementia, possibly due to brain trauma, as evidenced by marked changes in his work after his recovery, culminating in the "black" paintings.
Art historians have noted Goya's singular ability to express his personal demons as horrific and fantastic imagery that speaks universally, and allows his audience to find its own catharsis in the images.
Peninsular War (1808–1814)
The French army invaded Spain in 1808, leading to the
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War (1807–1814) was the military conflict fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Spain, Portugal, and the United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French Empire during the Napoleonic Wars. In Spain ...
of 1808–1814. The extent of Goya's involvement with the court of the "intruder king", Joseph Bonaparte, Joseph I, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, is not known; he painted works for French patrons and sympathisers, but kept neutral during the fighting. After the restoration of the Spanish King Ferdinand VII of Spain, Ferdinand VII in 1814, Goya denied any involvement with the French. By the time of his wife Josefa's death in 1812, he was painting ''
The Second of May 1808
''The Second of May 1808, by Goya'', also known as ''The Charge of the Mamelukes'' ( es, El 2 de mayo de 1808 en Madrid, or ), is a painting by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. It is a companion to the painting ''The Third of May 1808'' ...
'' and ''
The Third of May 1808
''The Third of May 1808'' (also known as or , or )The Museo del Prado entitles the work El 3 de mayo de 1808 en Madrid: los fusilamientos en la montaña del Príncipe Pío'' is a painting completed in 1814 by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, ...
'', and preparing the series of etchings later known as ''The Disasters of War'' (''Los desastres de la guerra''). Ferdinand VII returned to Spain in 1814 but relations with Goya were not cordial. The artist completed portraits of the king for a variety of ministries, but not for the king himself.
Although Goya did not make his intention known when creating ''The Disasters of War'', art historians view them as a visual protest against the violence of the 1808 Dos de Mayo Uprising, the subsequent Peninsular War and the move against liberalism in the aftermath of the History of Spain (1810–73), restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1814. The scenes are singularly disturbing, sometimes macabre in their depiction of battlefield horror, and represent an outraged conscience in the face of death and destruction.
[Wilson-Bareau, 45] They were not published until 1863, 35 years after his death. It is likely that only then was it considered politically safe to distribute a sequence of artworks criticising both the French and restored Bourbons.
[Jones, Jonathan.]
Look what we did
. ''The Guardian'', 31 March 2003. Retrieved 29 August 2009.
The first 47 plates in the series focus on incidents from the war and show the consequences of the conflict on individual soldiers and civilians. The middle series (plates 48 to 64) record the effects of the famine that hit Madrid in 1811–12, before the city was liberated from the French. The final 17 reflect the bitter disappointment of liberals when the restored Bourbon monarchy, encouraged by the Catholic hierarchy, rejected the Spanish Constitution of 1812 and opposed both state and religious reform. Since their first publication, Goya's scenes of atrocities, starvation, degradation and humiliation have been described as the "prodigious flowering of rage".
[Connell (2004), 175]
File:El Tres de Mayo, by Francisco de Goya, from Prado thin black margin.jpg, ''The Third of May 1808
''The Third of May 1808'' (also known as or , or )The Museo del Prado entitles the work El 3 de mayo de 1808 en Madrid: los fusilamientos en la montaña del Príncipe Pío'' is a painting completed in 1814 by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya, ...
'', 1814. Oil on canvas, . Museo del Prado, Madrid
File:El dos de mayo de 1808 en Madrid.jpg, ''The Second of May 1808
''The Second of May 1808, by Goya'', also known as ''The Charge of the Mamelukes'' ( es, El 2 de mayo de 1808 en Madrid, or ), is a painting by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. It is a companion to the painting ''The Third of May 1808'' ...
'', 1814
File:Prado - Los Desastres de la Guerra - No. 04 - Las mugeres dan valor.jpg, Plate 4: ''Las mujeres dan valor'' (''The women are courageous''). This plate depicts a struggle between a group of civilians fighting soldiers.
File:Prado - Los Desastres de la Guerra - No. 05 - Y son fieras.jpg, Plate 5: ''Y son fieras'' (''And they are fierce'' or ''And they fight like wild beasts''). Civilian women fight against soldiers with spears and rocks.
File:Prado - Los Desastres de la Guerra - No. 46 - Esto es malo.jpg, alt=Soldiers in large fur hats, long coats and winter uniforms murder priests by running them through with their long bladed swords., Plate 46: ''Esto es malo'' (''This is bad''). A monk is killed by French soldiers looting church treasures. A rare sympathetic image of clergy generally shown on the side of oppression and injustice.[Fremont-Barnes, Gregory. "The Napoleonic wars: the Peninsular War 1807–1814". Oxford: Osprey Publishing, 2002. 73. ]
File:Prado - Los Desastres de la Guerra - No. 47 - Así sucedió.jpg, Plate 47: ''Así sucedió'' (''This is how it happened''). The last print in the first group. Murdered monks lie by French soldiers looting church treasures.
His works from 1814 to 1819 are mostly commissioned portraits, but also include the altarpiece of Santa Justa and Santa Rufina for the Seville Cathedral, Cathedral of Seville, the print series of ''
La Tauromaquia
250px, Νο.18: ''The Daring of Martincho in the Ring at perspective, depicting the viewers in a rather unusual way in order to give to more dynamism to the work.
image:Autorretrato en el taller, Francisco de Goya.jpg, 130px, ''Self - portrait'' ...
'' depicting scenes from bullfighting, and probably the etchings of ''Los disparates, Los Disparates''.
Quinta del Sordo and Black Paintings (1819–1822)
Records of Goya's later life are relatively scant, and ever politically aware, he suppressed a number of his works from this period, working instead in private. He was tormented by a dread of old age and fear of madness. Goya had been a successful and royally placed artist, but withdrew from public life during his final years. From the late 1810s he lived in near-solitude outside Madrid in a farmhouse converted into a studio. The house had become known as "La
Quinta del Sordo" (The House of the Deaf Man), after the nearest farmhouse that had coincidentally also belonged to a deaf man.
Art historians assume Goya felt alienated from the social and political trends that followed the 1814 History of Spain (1810–73), restoration of the Bourbon monarchy, and that he viewed these developments as reactionary means of social control. In his unpublished art he seems to have railed against what he saw as a tactical retreat into Medievalism.
[Larson, Kay. "Dark Knight". ''New York Magazine'', Volume 22, No. 20, 15 May 1989. 111.] It is thought that he had hoped for political and religious reform, but like many liberals became disillusioned when the restored Bourbon monarchy and Catholic hierarchy rejected the Spanish Constitution of 1812.
At the age of 75, alone and in mental and physical despair, he completed the work of his 14 ''
Black Paintings
The ''Black Paintings'' (Spanish: ''Pinturas negras'') is the name given to a group of 14 paintings by Francisco Goya from the later years of his life, likely between 1819 and 1823. They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his ...
'', all of which were executed in oil directly onto the plaster walls of his house. Goya did not intend for the paintings to be exhibited, did not write of them, and likely never spoke of them. Around 1874, 50 years after his death, they were taken down and Transfer of panel paintings, transferred to a canvas support by owner Frédéric Émile d'Erlanger, Baron Frédéric Émile d'Erlanger. Many of the works were significantly altered during the restoration, and in the words of Arthur Lubow what remain are "at best a crude facsimile of what Goya painted." The effects of time on the murals, coupled with the inevitable damage caused by the delicate operation of mounting the crumbling plaster on canvas, meant that most of the murals suffered extensive damage and loss of paint. Today, they are on permanent display at the Museo del Prado, Madrid.
Bordeaux (October 1824 – 1828)
Leocadia Zorrilla, Leocadia Weiss (née Zorrilla, 1790–1856), the artist's maid, younger by 35 years, and a distant relative, lived with and cared for Goya after Bayeu's death. She stayed with him in his Black paintings, Quinta del Sordo villa until 1824 with her daughter Rosario Weiss Zorrilla, Rosario.
[Buchholz, 79] Leocadia was probably similar in features to Goya's first wife Josefa Bayeu, to the point that one of his well-known portraits bears the cautious title of ''Josefa Bayeu (or Leocadia Weiss)''.
Not much is known about her beyond her fiery temperament. She was likely related to the Goicoechea family, a wealthy dynasty into which the artist's son, Javier, had married. It is known that Leocadia had an unhappy marriage with a jeweler, Isidore Weiss, but was separated from him since 1811, after he had accused her of "illicit conduct". She had two children before that time, and bore a third, Rosario, in 1814 when she was 26. Isidore was not the father, and it has often been speculated—although with little firm evidence—that the child belonged to Goya. There has been much speculation that Goya and Weiss were romantically linked; however, it is more likely the affection between them was sentimental.
Goya died on 16 April 1828. Leocadia was left nothing in Goya's will; mistresses were often omitted in such circumstances, but it is also likely that he did not want to dwell on his mortality by thinking about or revising his will. She wrote to a number of Goya's friends to complain of her exclusion but many of her friends were Goya's also and by then were old men or had died, and did not reply. Largely destitute, she moved into rented accommodation, later passing on her copy of the ''Los caprichos, Caprichos'' for free.
Films and television
* ''Goya: Crazy Like a Genius'' (2002), a documentary by Ian MacMillan, presented by
Robert Hughes
* ''Goya's Ghosts'' (2006), directed by Miloš Forman
* ''Volavérunt'' (1999), directed by Bigas Luna and based on the novel by Antonio Larreta
* ''Goya in Bordeaux'' (1999), Spanish historical drama film written and directed by Carlos Saura about the life of Francisco de Goya
* ''Goya or the Hard Way to Enlightenment'' (1971) (German: ''Goya – oder der arge Weg der Erkenntnis'') is a 1971 East German drama film directed by Konrad Wolf. It was entered into the 7th Moscow International Film Festival where it won a Special Prize. It is based on a novel with the same title by Lion Feuchtwanger.
* ''The Naked Maja'' (1958), directed by Henry Koster. A film about the painter Francisco Goya and the Duchess of Alba; Anthony Franciosa played Goya and Ava Gardner played The Duchess.
* ''Tiempo de ilustrados (Time of the Enlightened)'' in the series ''The Ministry of Time''. Goya (played by Pedro Casablanc) must repaint ''
La maja desnuda
''The Naked Maja'' or ''The Nude Maja'' ( es, La maja desnuda ) is an oil on canvas painting made around 1797–1800 by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It portrays a nude woman reclining on a ...
'' after a cult called the Exterminating Angels destroy it.
Goya's influence on modern and contemporary artists and writers
* In the early 20th century, Spanish masters Pablo Picasso and Salvador Dalí drew influence from ''Los caprichos'' and the ''
Black Paintings
The ''Black Paintings'' (Spanish: ''Pinturas negras'') is the name given to a group of 14 paintings by Francisco Goya from the later years of his life, likely between 1819 and 1823. They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his ...
'' of Goya.
* In the 21st century, American postmodern painters such as Michael Zansky and Bradley Rubenstein draw inspiration from "The Dream of Reason Produces Monsters" (1796–98) and Goya's ''
Black Paintings
The ''Black Paintings'' (Spanish: ''Pinturas negras'') is the name given to a group of 14 paintings by Francisco Goya from the later years of his life, likely between 1819 and 1823. They portray intense, haunting themes, reflective of both his ...
''. Zanksy's "Giants and Dwarf Series" (1990–2002) of large-scale paintings and wood carvings use imagery from Goya.
*Spanish author Fernando Arrabal's novel ''The Burial of the Sardine'' was inspired by Goya's painting.
* Russian poet Andrei Voznesensky's ''I Am Goya'' was inspired by Goya's anti-war paintings.
* The video game Impasto was based on the works of Goya.
References
Footnotes
Citations
Further reading
* Jeannine Baticle, Baticle, Jeannine. ''Goya: Painter of Terrible Splendor'', "Découvertes Gallimard, Abrams Discoveries" series. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1994
* Buchholz, Elke Linda. ''Francisco de Goya''. Cologne: Könemann, 1999.
* Ciofalo, John J. ''The Self-Portraits of Francisco Goya.'' Cambridge University Press, 2002
* Connell, Evan S. ''Francisco Goya: A Life''. New York: Counterpoint, 2004.
* Eitner, Lorenz. ''An Outline of 19th Century European Painting''. New York: Harper & Row, 1997.
* Gassier, Pierre. ''Goya: A Biographical and Critical Study''. New York: Skira, 1955
* Gassier, Piere and Juliet Wilson. ''The Life and Complete Work of Francisco Goya''. New York 1971.
* Glendinning, Nigel. ''Goya and his Critics''. New Haven 1977.
* Glendinning, Nigel. "The Strange Translation of Goya's Black Paintings". ''The Burlington Magazine'', Volume 117, No. 868, 1975
* Hagen, Rose-Marie & Hagen, Rainer. ''Francisco Goya, 1746–1828''. London: Taschen, 1999.
* Havard, Robert. "Goya's House Revisited: Why a Deaf Man Painted his Walls Black". ''Bulletin of Spanish Studies'', Volume 82, Issue 5 July 2005
* Hennigfeld, Ursula (ed.). ''Goya im Dialog der Medien, Kulturen und Disziplinen.'' Freiburg: Rombach, 2013.
* Hilt, Douglas. "Goya: Turmoils of a Patriot" ''History Today'' (Aug 1973), Vol. 23 Issue 8, pp 536–545, online
* Robert Hughes (critic), Hughes, Robert. ''Goya''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004.
* Junquera, Juan José. ''The Black Paintings of Goya''. London: Scala Publishers, 2008.
* Kravchenko, Anastasiia. ''Mythological subjects in Francisco Goya's work''. 2019
* Licht, Fred S. ''Goya in Perspective''. New York 1973.
* Licht, Fred. ''Goya: The Origins of the Modern Temper in Art''. Universe Books, 1979.
* Litroy, Jo. ''Jusqu'à la mort''. Paris: Éditions du Masque, Editions du Masque, 2013.
* Symmons, Sarah. ''Goya: A Life in Letters''. Pimlico, 2004.
* Tomlinson, Janis. ''Francisco Goya y Lucientes 1746–1828''. London: Phaidon, 1994.
* Tomlinson, Janis. "Burn It, Hide It, Flaunt It: Goya's Majas and the Censorial Mind". ''The Art Journal'', Volume 50, No. 4, 1991
External links
Francisco Goya's Catswww.FranciscoGoya.comGoya in Aragon Foundation: Online catalogue''Goya, the Secret of the Shadows'' a documentary film by David Mauas, Spain, 2011, 77'
Goya: The Most Spanish of Artists, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston* (PDF in th
Arno Schmidt Reference Library
* (PDF in th
Arno Schmidt Reference Library
Etching series by Goya"His Majesty's Giant Anteater – A New Goya is Discovered!"Bibliothèque numérique de l'INHA – Estampes de Francisco de Goya''Goya in the Metropolitan Museum of Art'' an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF)
''Prints & People: A Social History of Printed Pictures'' an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains a significant amount of material on the prints of Goya
Francisco Goya Printsin the Claremont Colleges Digital Library
Francisco Goya Workat the Muscarelle Museum of Art
Goya hidden micro-signatures, a revolutionary discovery
{{DEFAULTSORT:Goya, Francisco
Francisco Goya,
1746 births
1828 deaths
18th-century Spanish painters
18th-century Spanish male artists
19th-century Spanish painters
19th-century Spanish male artists
18th-century Spanish people
Painters from Aragon
Burials in Madrid
Court painters
Deaf artists
Deaf people from Spain
People from the Province of Zaragoza
Royal Order of Spain members
Spanish battle painters
Spanish people of Basque descent
Spanish printmakers
Spanish Roman Catholics
Spanish romantic painters
Spanish satirists