Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (30 March 1746 – 16 April 1828) • Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown, and through his works was both a commentator on and chronicler of his era. • He was born in Fuentetodos, in the province of Zaragoza on the 30th of March in 1746. • About 1749 the family bought a house in the City of Zaragoza and some years later they went to live in it.
Youth •
At age 14, he entered the studio of José Luján as apprentice. Luján was an academic painter, from whom he learnt the elementary steps of painting.
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Later he moved to Madrid where he studied with Mengs who was a popular painter of the Royal Court.
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Suddenly he appeared in Rome (Italy). But where did he get the money for his travels? It has been said that he earned it as a bullfighter, but it might just as well have been a generous gift from one of those families which had already then taken him under their wing: the Pignatelli family; the Goicoechea family; the Bayeu family...
• Francisco Bayeu, in whose studio Goya had learned the charm of construction and the art of colour, became his brother-in-law in 1774 when Goya married Josefa his teacher’s sister. • During his travels in Italy, Goya was awarded the second prize in a painting competition organized by the City of Parma in January 1771. In that same year he returned to Zaragoza where he painted a part of the cupola of the Basilica of the Pillar. He continued to be the pupil of Bayeu but his painting was already beginning to show signs of the delicate tonalities which with time were to make him famous.
Maturity •
His marriage gave him an introduction to the Royal Tapestry Workshop where in five years he designed about forty-two patterns for tapestry, many of which were used to decorate the walls of El Escorial and the Palacio Real del Pardo, the newly built residences of the Spanish monarchs near Madrid. This brought his artistic talents to the attention of the Spanish monarchs who later would give him access to the royal court.
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In 1783 he succeeded in taking the first positive step in his courtly career: The Count of Floridablanca, favourite of King Carlos III, commissioned him to paint his portrait, and he also became an intimate with the Crown Prince Don Luis, and went to live in his house. A little later he also became friendly with the Duke and Duchess of Osuna, whom he painted, as he did finally also the King and all the most notable personages of the kingdom.
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In 1786, Goya was given a salaried position as painter to Charles III. After the death of Charles III in 1788 and revolution in France in 1789, during the reign of Charles IV, Goya reached his peak of popularity with royalty.
Style • His painting has undeniable influences of Velazquez. • In Goya’s works one sees a sincere realism. He tyrannised his subjects, forcing them to remain motionless for hours without even moving a muscle, tyrannically portraying them on the canvas with the whole of their human reality; a mixture of fleshless satire and boldness, many times even entering into caricature. Among his portraits those of King Carlos IV and Queen Maria Luisa stand out, but we must not forget those of Duque Fernán Núñez, the Duchess of Alba.
Illness •
In 1792 Goya, after an illness, was left absolutely deaf from then on his interior world had to feed itself on light and shadow and emotions, and began to populate itself with feelings, longings, and ghosts. His character became more introspective.
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In 1799 he was appointed the Royal Painter with a salary of 50,000 reales and 500 ducats for a coach. Prosperity had arrived, money in abundance, silver plate, canvases by Velazquez, Correggio, and Tintoretto, all were his. Nevertheless his time was unquiet and his nerves added to his deafness, made him restless. His character became embittered which is shown in Los Caprichos, a collection of prints finished about 1803 in which he censured society, the morality of the customs, and the falsities of human life. This work is hard, full of pain and populated with freaks.
Later years •
When his wife Pepa died in 1812 Goya was painting his most famous canvases: The Charge of the Mamelukes and The Executions of the 3 May in La Moncloa, as well as the series of The Disasters of the Wars.
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In 1814 the artist was living with his cousin and her daughter, Rosario Weiss, whom he loved madly. He continued to work incessantly: portraits, pictures of Santa Justa and Santa Rufina, lithographs, pictures of tauromachy, etc....
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But with the idea of isolating himself from everything he bought a house on the outskirts of Manzanares, which became known as the House of the Deaf. There, more enclosed within himself than ever, he produced the famous Black Pictures, a series showing all his genius in phantasmagorical, dark and terrible visions, a low class Madrilenian woman, two friars, Saturn Devouring his sons, The Witches’ Sabbath, The Reading, The Fates, Two men Fighting with Cudgels, etc....
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Always unsettled and discontented he left Spain in May 1824.
• He visited first Bordeaux and then Paris and finally took up residence in the former, probably due to the number of ex-patriate Spaniards who lived there. • After suffering from another period of ill health he decided to return to Spain, where he arrived in May 1826. He was met by his son Francisco Javier who went with him everywhere, but in spite of this welcome which he received some quirk made him decide to return to Bordeaux. • Thus he went on, alone, locked in the closed room of his deafness, always waiting for something which never seemed to arrive. One day he received a letter from Francisco Javier announcing a visit. Emotional as he was, the pleasure he received caused to become over excited which perhaps was the cause of the illness which immediately struck down. On April 16 died Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes, Genius and Artist.