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Biography
Goya was a portraitist and court painter to the Spanish Crown, a chronicler of history, and, in his unofficial work, a revolutionary and a visionary. He has been regarded both as the last of the old masters and as the first of the moderns. The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso.
Goya was born in Fuendetodos, in the province of Saragossa on the 30 March 1746 to Joseph Goya and Gracia Lucientes. He spent his childhood in Fuendetodos where his family lived in a house bearing the family crest of his mother, and which was surrounded by the dry lands. His father earned his living as a guilder. About 1749 the family bought a house in the city of Saragossa and some years later moved into it.
Francisco Goya. The Third of May 1808: The Execution of the Defenders of Madrid. 1814. Oil on canvas. 345 x 266 cm. Madrid: Museo del Prado. Francisco Goya. The Family of Charles IV, (1800)Goya attended school at Escuelas Pias where he formed a close friendship with Martin Zapater, and their correspondence over the years became valuable material for biographies of Goya. At 14 he entered apprenticeship with the painter Jose Lujan. (continued on the bottom)
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He later moved to Madrid where he studied with Anton Raphael Mengs, a painter who was popular with Spanish royalty. He clashed with his master, and his examinations were unsatisfactory. Goya submitted entries for the Spanish Royal Academy in 1763, and 1766, and both times he was denied entrance. He then journeyed to Rome where in 1771 he won second prize in a painting competition organized by the City of Parma.
He returned to Saragossa in 1771 and painted a part of the cupola, of the Basilica of the Pillar, frescoes of the oratory of the cloisters of Aula Dei, and the frescoes of the Sobradiel Palace. He studied with Francisco Bayeu y Subías and his painting began to show signs of the delicate tonalities for which he became known.
Goya and Bayeu's sister, Josefa, married in 1774. His marriage to Josefa (Pepa he called her) gained him work with the Royal Tapestry Workshop where over five years he designed some 42 patterns. He also gained access to the royal court, painted a canvas for the altar of the Church of San Francisco El Grande, and was appointed a member of the Academy of San Fernando.
In 1783, the Count of Floridablanca, a favourite of King Carlos III, commissioned him to paint his portrait. He also became friends with Crown Prince Don Luis, and lived in his house. His circle of patrons grew to include the Duke and Duchess of Osuna, whom he painted, the King and other notable people of the kingdom.
After the death of Carlos III in 1788 and revolution in France in 1789, during the reign of Carlos IV, Goya reached his peak of popularity with royalty.
After contracting a high fever in 1792 Goya was left deaf, and he became withdrawn and introspective. During the five years he spent recuperating, he read a great deal about the French Revolution and its philosophy. The bitter series of aquatinted etchings that resulted were published in 1799 under the title Los Caprichos. The dark visions depicted in these prints are partly explained by his caption, "The sleep of reason produces monsters". Yet these are not solely bleak in nature and demonstrate the artist's sharp satirical wit, paricularly evident in etchings such as Hunting for Teeth. Additionally, one can discern a thread of the macabre running through Goya's work, even in his earlier tapestry cartoons.
Saturn Devouring His Son, (1819)In 1799 he was appointed the Spanish royal painter with a salary of 50,000 reales and 500 ducats for a coach. He worked on the cupola of the Hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida; he painted the King and the Queen, royal family pictures, portraits of the Prince of the Peace and many other nobles. As French forces invaded Spain during the Peninsular War (1808–1814), the new Spanish court received him as had its predecessors.
King Ferdinand VII came back to Spain but relations with Goya were not cordial. In 1814 Goya lived with his cousin Rosario Weiss, and her daughter, Dona Leocadia, who he loved madly. He continued to work incessantly on portraits, pictures of Santa Justa and Santa Rufina, lithographs, pictures of tauromachy, and more.
With the idea of isolating himself, he bought a house near Manzanares, which was known as the Quinta del Sordo (roughly, "House of the Deaf Man"). There he made the Black Paintings. Unsettled and discontented he left Spain in May 1824 for Bordeaux and Paris. He settled in Bordeaux. He returned to Spain in 1826 after another period of ill health, but despite a warm welcome he returned to Bordeaux where he died on April 16, 1828.