Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya was a Spanish Romantic artist who lived from 1746 to 1828. He is considered one of the great Spanish masters of art. Goya occupied an important time in art history during the transition from the Old Masters to modern art.

Goya started his formal artistic training at the age of 14 under the tutelage of the Spanish Baroque artist, José Luzán. After twice being denied entrance into the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid in both 1763 and 1766, Goya relocated to Rome where he continued his artistic training. Francisco Goya returned back home to Spain in 1771. After painting an altar to a church in Madrid, he was finally given membership in the Royal Academy of Fine Art where he had previously been denied. He made his way into the royal circles and became the official court painter to Charles IV in 1789.

After the Napoleon and the French invaded and overtook Spain during the Peninsular War of 1807–1814, Goya continued to paint for the Court. After the Spanish crown was restored, Goya’s reputation and loyalties were questioned. He continued to paint commissioned portraits but put himself into more and more isolation. It was during these isolated years that Goya created his ‘Black Paintings’; oil paintings that he painted onto the walls of his house.

Though much is not known about Francisco Goya’s personal thoughts, he suffered many hardships throughout his life.  In 1773 he married Josefa Bayeu, and though they seemed to love each other very much, they had seven childbirths, but only one child survived into adulthood.  In 1793, an unknown sickness made him completely deaf after which his work became even more dark.

Some believe that Goya’s physical and mental breakdowns came from his overexposure to lead that was found in the lead white paints that he used in his art. In 1828, Goya suffered a stroke which resulted in his entire right side of his body being paralyzed and died at the age of 82 later that year.

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