Despite the fact, that there are no surviving records, it is possible, that Goya may have attended the Escuelas Pías de San Antón, which offered free schooling.
College/University
Career
Achievements
Membership
Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando
1780
Calle de Alcalá, 13, 28014 Madrid, Spain
In 1780, Goya was made a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.
Despite the fact, that there are no surviving records, it is possible, that Goya may have attended the Escuelas Pías de San Antón, which offered free schooling.
Francisco Goya was a notable Spanish romantic artist, whose paintings, drawings and engravings reflected contemporary historical upheavals and influenced important 19th- and 20th-century painters. Being often viewed as the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, he was also a commentator and chronicler of his era. Besides, Goya was one of the greatest portraitists of his time.
Background
Ethnicity:
Goya's father, José, was of Basque origin and his ancestors were from Zerain.
Francisco Goya was born on March 30, 1746 in Fuendetodos, Aragon, Spain, into the family of José Benito de Goya y Franque and Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador. Goya's father was a gilder in Saragossa, specialising in religious and decorative craftwork, and it was there, that Goya spent his childhood and adolescence.
Francisco had two sisters - Rita and Jacinta, and three brothers, named Tomás, Mariano and Camilo.
Education
Despite the fact, that there are no surviving records, it is possible, 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. Goya had reading, writing and numeracy and some knowledge of the classics.
At the age of fourteen, Goya began his artistic studies under painter Jose Luzan, which lasted for four years. He later moved to Madrid to study under Anton Raphael Mengs, a German artist, who worked as a court painter for the Spanish royal family. Goya's time with Mengs was largely unsuccessful and later, in both 1763 and 1766, he wasn't accepted to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando.
Later, Goya went to Italy to continue his studies and was in Rome in 1771. The same year, he left for Zaragoza, where he studied under Francisco Bayeu.
Goya's career first took shape after his relocation to Italy around 1770, though details about his activities there are murky. In 1771, he won the second place in a painting competition, held in Parma, with his "Sacrifice to Pan". The same year, he returned to Zaragoza, where he began his studies under Francisco Bayeu, who became a close friend.
Around 1774, Goya was commissioned to produce a series of cartoons for the Royal Tapestry factory at Santa Barbara. These paintings depict scenes from contemporary Spanish life in a lighthearted and light-toned Rococo manner; the resulting tapestries were installed in two royal palaces. Goya leveraged this experience to grow his connections within the Spanish court. At the same time, he also began to work on a set of etchings after paintings by Velázquez in the royal collection. Goya would become a master of printmaking, which came to serve as the primary means, by which he expressed his most personal feelings about the social and political events of his day.
It was in 1786, that Goya began his career as a court painter under Charles III. Later, he established himself as a favorite of Charles IV, becoming First Court Painter to the king in 1799, the highest position for an artist in the royal household. He would serve in this capacity until the Napoleonic invasion of 1808, though he continued to gain commissions from the new regime after pledging his allegiance to the Bonapartists.
During the height of his affiliation with the Spanish court, Goya befriended the influential Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy, who commissioned other works from the artist for his private collection, including the notorious "Nude Maja" (1797-1800). This painting led to widespread speculation about the sitter's true identity, sparking rumors of Godoy's illicit affairs with two separate women and his eventual questioning by the Spanish Inquisition.
Goya's burgeoning career was briefly interrupted in 1792, when an undiagnosed illness left him permanently deaf. Although he continued to work for the Spanish royal family, his handicap led him to distance himself from public life as he grew increasingly embittered and melancholic. It was around this time, that Goya began working on "Los Caprichos", a series of 80 etchings with aquatint, that was published in 1799. The prints present an indictment of many aspects of contemporary Spain.
Napoleon's invasion of Spain in 1808 and the subsequent Peninsular War, lasting until 1814, gave Goya ample opportunity to observe and critique society. The war inspired his paintings "The Second of May 1808" and "The Third of May 1808", as well as his portfolio of etchings, titled "The Disasters of War". In the words of author Evan S. Connell these works represent "the prodigious flowering of rage", that Goya felt in the face of so much violence and horror.
Following the restoration of the Bourbon monarchy in 1814, Goya withdrew completely from public life; little is known about his later years. He moved to a farmhouse on the outskirts of Madrid, La Quinta del Sordo (The House of the Deaf Man), where, by 1821, he completed 14 so-called "Black Paintings", which were painted directly onto the house's plaster walls. In 1824, Goya moved to Bordeaux to escape the oppressive and autocratic regime of Ferdinand VII. The artist lived in exile in France until his death in 1828.
Achievements
Francisco Goya is regarded as the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Despite the fact, that he was known for his paintings, drawings, frescoes and engravings, that reflected contemporary historical upheavals and influenced important 19th- and 20th-century painters, he was one of the greatest printmakers of all time. Besides, he was renowned for his achievements in etching and aquatint.
Goya's masterpieces in painting include "The Naked Maja", "The Clothed Maja" and "The 3rd of May 1808: The Execution of the Defenders of Madrid", among others.
It's also worth noting, that, in 1771, Goya won the second place in a painting competition, held in Parma, with his "Sacrifice to Pan".
They Say "Yes" and Give Their Hand to the First Comer
They Pare
When Day Breaks We Will Be Off
Blow
Who Could Believe It!
There is a Lot to Suck
What Will He Die?
Bad Night
The Chinchillas
Because She was Susceptible
They are Hot
Love and Death
She is Well Pulled Down
The Shy Man
What a Sacrifice!
What a Golden Beak!
Those Specks of Dust
Correction
Sleep Overcomes Them
Farewell
Squealers?
She Leaves Him Penniless
They Already Go Plucked
Pretty Teacher
And His House is On Fire
Here Comes the Bogey-Man
The Devout Profession
They Spin Finely
Even So He Cannot Make Her Out
Tantalus
Can't Anyone Untie Us?
Nanny's Boy
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters
The Lineage
As Far Back As His Grandfather
He Broke the Pitcher
Look How Solemn They Are
Birds of a Feather
Be Quick, They are Waking Up
Self Portrait
Who is More Overcome?
And They Still Won't Go
Should God Forgive Her She was Her Mother
Wait Till You Have Been Anointed
What a Tailor Can Do!
It is Time
Rise and Fall
Don't Scream, Silly
Now They are Sitting Well
They Who Cannot
To the Count Palatine
No One Has Seen Us
How They Break Her Barrel
Trials
All Will Fall
It is Better to be Idle
Poor Little Girls!
Hush
Till Death
One to Anothers
There was No Help
This Certainly is Reading
Are You...Well, As I was Telling You. Eh! Be Careful or...
Lads Getting on With the Job
Nobody Knows Anybody
Swallow It, Dog
painting
The Bewitched Man
Don Pedro, Duke of Osuna
Portrait of the Artist Julio Asensio
The Straw Manikin
Portrait of Ferdinand Guillemardet
The Picnic
Self Portrait
Dance of the Majos at the Banks of Manzanares
Aníbal Vencedor Contempla Por Primera Vez Italia Desde Los Alpes
The Yard of a Madhouse
The Parasol
Sketch for The Death of Saint Joseph
The Adoration of the Name of The Lord
Woman Battered with a Cane
The Fight at the Venta Nueva
Robbery
Portrait of Charle IV of Spain
The Fair at Madrid
Self Portrait
Queen Maria Luisa
The Greasy Pole
The Arrest of Christ
Self Portrait
King Carlos IV in Hunting Costume
Self Portrait
The Duchess of Alba and Her Duenna
Boys with Mastiff
Triple Generation
Fight with a Young Bull
Wife of Juan Agustín Ceán Bermúdez
St. Francis Borgia Helping a Dying Impenitent
Village Procession
The Sacrifice to Vesta
St. Bernardino of Siena Preaching to Alfonso V of Aragon
Couple with Parasol on the Paseo
Blind Man's Buff
Birth of the Virgin
Summer, or The Harvest
The Fall or The Accident
The Strolling Players
The Duke of Osuna and His Family
Sebastian Martinez
The Family of the Infante Don Luis
Playing at Giants
Boys Playing Soldiers
Duke of Alba
The Swing
Pilgrimage to the Church of San Isidro
A Woman and Two Children by a Fountain
Queen María Luisa Wearing a Mantilla
The Esquilache Riots
Fire at Night
St. Gregory the Great
Charles III
María Luisa of Parma Wearing Panniers
Autumn, or The Grape Harvest
The Annunciation
The Meadow of San Isidro on His Feast Day
The Sacrifice to Priapus
Duchess Countess of Benavente
The Annunciation
Girl Listening to a Guitar
The Blind Guitar Player
Self Portrait in the Studio
The Marquesa de Pontejos
Crucified Christ
The Swing
Asensio Juliá
Portrait of Senora Berm sezne Kepmesa
The Count of Floridablanca
The Duchess of Alba Arranging Her Hair
Incantation
The Injured Mason
Circumcision
The Shipwreck
The Snowstorm (Winter)
The Miracle of St. Anthony
Pedro Romero
Naked Girl Looking in the Mirror
The Maja and the Masked Men
Saint Ambrose
The Rape of Europa
Francisco Bayeu
Saint Gregory
Don Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuniga
Picnic on the Banks of the Manzanares
The Holy Family
The Quail Shoot
Portait of Maria Teresa de Borbón y Vallabriga
Juan Antonio Melendez Valdes
Equestrian Portrait of Maria Luisa of Parma
Portrait of Maria Teresa de Vallabriga on Horseback
Attack on a Coach
Mariana Waldstein, Ninth Marquesa de Santa Cruz
The Swing
The Duchess of Alba
The Crockery Vendor
Francisco de Cabarrus
Dona Tadea Arias de Enriquez
Procession of Flagellants
The Arrest of Christ
The School Scene
Witches Sabbath
Picador Caught by the Bull
La Tirana
Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos
The Burial of Christ
Don Andres del Peral
Witches in the Air
They Sing for the Composer
The Kite
The Wedding
Highwaymen Attacking a Coach
Duchess of Alba, The White Duchess
Portrait of the Countess of Carpio, Marquesa de la Solana
Marquesa Mariana de Pontejos
Religion
Goya never lost his belief in the potential of the Catholic Church.
Views
Like many Romantics, Goya was influenced by the Enlightenment, but also reacted against it. Like Voltaire and other Enlightenment figures, he despised irrationality, including the superstition, obscurantism and intolerance of the Christian Church, that was exposed most visibly in the Spanish Inquisition, which began in 1478 and continued, with some interruptions, until 1834.
Goya was a lifelong defender of individual freedom and the fundamental rights of individuals, sharp-eyed caricaturist, who mercilessly used his art to expose the absurdities and vileness of the world around him. Yet, he also gave rein to an unbridled imagination, conforming to the Romantic model of the inspired genius. In effect, Goya was a man of his time and a keen and clear-sighted commentator on it.
As for Goya's work, the subject matter of his etchings veers from dreamlike to grotesque, documentary to imaginary and humorous to harshly satirical. What is more, women occupy a central place within Goya's oeuvre, and his images of majas (the stylish and outlandish members of Spain's lower classes in the 18th and 19th centuries), witches and queens are some of his most daring and modern interpretations, depicting women in possession of their own powers, whether political or sexual.
Goya's late paintings are among the darkest and most mysterious of his creations. His series of fourteen paintings from his farmhouse on the outskirts of Madrid (the so-called "Black Paintings") contain images of violence, despair, evil and longing. They are the pessimistic expressions of an aging, deaf artist, who was disillusioned with society and struggling with his own sanity. Their exploration of the dark forces at work in his own subconscious foreshadows the art of the Expressionists and Surrealists in the 20th century.
Quotations:
"The act of painting is about one heart, telling another heart, where he found salvation."
"Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels."
"First be a magnificent artist and then you can do whatever, but the art must be first."
"I see only forms, that are lit up, and forms, that are not. There is only light and shadow."
"Painting, like poetry, selects in the universe whatever she deems most appropriate to her ends. She assembles in a single fantastic personage, circumstances and features, which nature distributes among many individuals. From this combination, ingeniously composed, results that happy imitation by virtue of which the artist earns the title of inventor and not of servile copyist."
"I have had three masters, Nature, Velasquez and Rembrandt."
"But where do they find these lines in nature? I can only see luminous or obscure masses, planes, that advance, or planes, that recede, reliefs or background. My eye never catches lines or details."
Membership
member
Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando
,
Spain
1780
Personality
Goya was an astute observer of the world around him. He had rebellious character and was inclined to violent actions.
Physical Characteristics:
Francisco Goya was of medium height with brown hair. He had a somewhat florid round face with dark eyes, a broad nose and wide mouth: Celtiberian features, commonly found in Navarre, Aragon and La Rioja.
In 1792, Goya became completely deaf after suffering from an unknown malady.
Connections
On July 25, 1773, Francisco Goya married Josefa Bayeu y Subías, Francisco Bayeu's sister. Their marriage produced seven children, only one of whom lived past infancy and into adulthood. Josefa passed away in 1812.
In his later years, Goya lived with his maid and companion, Leocadia Weiss, and her daughter until his death in 1828.
Father:
José Benito de Goya y Franque
José was a gilder, specialising in religious and decorative craftwork.
Mother:
Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador
Gracia was a daughter of a poor Aragonese hidalgo.
Sister:
Jacinta Goya
Sister:
Rita Goya
Brother:
Tomás Goya
Brother:
Camilo Goya
Brother:
Mariano Goya
Wife:
Josefa Bayeu y Subías
Josefa Bayeu y Subías (1747-1812) was the sister of artist Francisco Bayeu and wife of Francisco Goya, who gave her the nickname "Pepa".
Son:
Francisco de Paula Antonio Benito de Goya Bayeu
Son:
Luis Eusebio Ramón de Goya Bayeu
Luis was born in 1775 and passed away in 1790.
Son:
Antonio Juan Ramón Carlos de Goya Bayeu
Antonio was born in 1774 and died in 1790.
Son:
Vicente Anastasio de Goya Bayeu
Son:
Javier Francisco de Goya
Javier Francisco de Goya (December 2, 1784 - March 12, 1854) was Goya's only child, who lived past infancy and into adulthood.
Daughter:
Maria del Pilar Dionisia de Goya Bayeu
Maria was born in 1779. She died in 1785, at the age of 5 or 6.
Daughter:
Hermenegilda de Goya Bayeu
brother-in-law:
Francisco Bayeu y Subías
Francisco Bayeu y Subías was a Spanish painter, who worked in the Neoclassic style and whose main subjects were religious and historical themes. Francisco was best known for his frescoes.
Partner:
Leocadia Weiss
Leocadia Weiss (December 9, 1788 - August 7, 1856) was a companion of Francisco Goya.
References
The Self-Portraits of Francisco Goya
In this study John J. Ciofalo examines a broad sampling of Goya's oeuvre through the lens of self-portraiture. In doing so, Ciofalo offers new interpretations of some of Goya's most famous works, including "Los Caprichos", "Family of Carlos IV", "The Disasters of War" and the "black" paintings. Interdisciplinary in scope, this book provides fresh and illuminating perspectives on a notoriously enigmatic artist.
2000
Goya
Robert Hughes, who has stunned his readers with comprehensive works on subjects as sweeping and complex as the history of Australia ("The Fatal Shore"), the modern art movement ("The Shock of the New"), the nature of American art ("American Visions") and the nature of America itself as seen through its art ("The Culture of Complaint"), now turns his renowned critical eye to one of art history's most compelling, enigmatic and important figures, Francisco Goya. With characteristic critical fervor and sure-eyed insight, Hughes brings his readers the story of an artist, whose life and work bridged the transition from the eighteenth-century reign of the old masters to the early days of the nineteenth-century moderns.
Goya: Order & Disorder
This work represents a comprehensive and integrated view of Goya's most important paintings, prints and drawings through the themes and imagery, that continually challenged or preoccupied the artist.
