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Francisco Goya - First of the Moderns

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was a renown Spanish artist best known for his subversive, satirical, and objective style. Although officially employed as a Spanish court painter, his best work was done apart from his official duties. Our SegPlayPC™ Goya collection comprises 26 patterns of his best works. There are several self portraits, nude and clothed Maja, numerous portraits (Dutchess of Alba, Isidoro Máiquez, Countess of Chichon, José Antonio, Juan Martin Diaz, Maria Teresa, Sabasa Garcia), and a number of period scenes ("The Grape Harvest", "Water Carrier", "The Parasol"). We've also included his dramatic and influential "The Third of May 1808: The Execution of the Defenders of Madrid". There are also several from his Black Paintings ("The Colossus", "Saturn Devouring his Son", "Duel with Cudgels", and "Witches Sabbath").

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 - April 16, 1828) is recognized as one of the greatest Spanish painters. In his lifetime, Goya was a court painter to the Kings of Spain, but today he is considered to be the Father of Modern Art. He was perhaps the first artist to faithfully record historic events.

Goya freely expressed his feelings on canvas; his handling of paint was bold and expressive and his subject matter subversive. He believed in artistic vision, and portrayed graphic scenes of violence and war prompted by the Napoleonic invasion of Spain. His approach pioneered tendencies that would only surface a century later.

Goya was born in a small village in northern Spain where his father worked as a gilder. Little is known about Goya’s early life, except that he was apprenticed to a church painter, José Luzan, when he was 14 and that he twice failed to win a scholarship to the Madrid Academy when he was 17. He later traveled to Rome and made his living there as a painter.

Returning to Spain after a year, Goya started painting decorative, rococo frescoes for local churches. He studied with Francisco Bayeu, a local artist, who helped him find work designing patterns in the Royal Tapestry Workshop where he stayed for 17 years, producing over 60 designs.

In 1773 Goya married Bayeu’s sister, Josefa, and his fortunes changed; the Spanish aristocracy started noticing his art and in 1780 he was nominated director of the Royal Academy of Art, a position that enabled him to become painter to King Charles III of Spain. Goya was at the peak of his popularity.

But this success was not to last. In 1792 Goya contracted an unknown illness that left him deaf and became alienated and withdrawn. He spent his convalescence reading about the philosophy behind the French Revolution, which had taken place a few years earlier, and produced a series of etchings with bitter, dark visions inspired by its events. The series, known as the Caprichos is captioned The sleep of reason produces monsters.

In 1808 Napoleon invaded Spain in a war that would last until 1814, and Goya became court painter to the French invaders. He produced a series of shocking prints called The Disasters of War.

The Spanish monarchy was restored in 1814, but the new King did not appreciate Goya’s work. He had shocked the establishment by painting The Naked Maja; nudes were not considered acceptable subject matter in Spain then. Today, this painting is considered to be one of Goya’s masterpieces. To make matters worse, following the death of his wife in 1812, Goya began living with his housekeeper and her illegitimate daughter.

Isolated and embittered, Goya went into seclusion, buying a house outside Madrid, which the locals dubbed theHouse of the Deaf Man. Here Goya was free to express his darkest visions. He worked on a series of nightmarish visions, known as the Black Paintings, which he painted on the walls of his house. After his death, the paintings were transferred to canvas and today are in the Prado museum in Madrid. These works are widely acknowledged to be the forerunners of the Expressionist movement.

Goya left Spain in 1824 and settled in Bordeaux, France. He went back and forth between Bordeaux and Spain until he died in Bordeaux in 1828 at the age of 82. He continued painting until the very end and his career had spanned over 60 years.

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