Spanish Romantic Artist Francisco Goya

Francisco Goya was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. He was a unique painter. He was known for his dark prints, and paintings, and for being cruelly realistic in each one of them. He never tried to beautify a personal portrait, and he portrayed things as he saw them, not how people wanted them. Goya was only famous with the aristocrats when he was alive, which is more than most artists can say.

Francisco de Goya was born in Aragon, Spain, on March 30, 1746. His dad was a guilder, and his family was middle class. They lived in a house that bore his mom’s family crest, but later moved to Madrid. At the age of 14, he became an apprentice to JosE Luzán, but was not with him for long because of the move to Madrid.

Goya painted his first project in the late 1760’s at the Basilica of the Pillar in Zaragota, Spain. He was living there at the time, and they just needed a few artists to help finish the job they had been working on for some time.

On July 25, 1773, Francisco married Josefa. She was a niece to one of the administrators at the Royal Academy of Art, and Goya reapplied shortly after their honeymoon, and was accepted. In 1775, he went to work for the Royal Tapestry Workshop. The tapestries he designed became some of the best in the business, and he started getting personal commissions.

In 1783, Goya had his first big break. He was to paint a portrait of Count Floridablanca, which was notably received by the aristocrats. He received more portraits, and in 1786, at the age of 40, he was appointed painter to King Charles III, then became court painter for King Charles IV in 1789.

In 1814, he painted his most famous painting, The Third of May 1808. In it, soldiers are shooting innocent people, all men with the town’s Catholic Church behind them. This is based off a true event, when Napoleon had his soldiers come to Spain, and kill townsfolk, to try and force them to let him rule. Napoleon failed in the end, and this piece commemorates the Spanish revolt to him and the innocent that were killed. Also at this time, Goya moved in with his house keeper, Doña Lescadia, which was considered scandalous. She had her illegitimate daughter living with her, and it was rumored that Goya was her father.

Shortly after, Goya started what he called the “Black paintings.” His most famous, Saturn Devouring One of his Children, is painted on his living room walls. During this period, he had become obsessed with Mythology and other stories, and painted them in a gory, macabre manner that frightened most people. He moved to Paris in 1824, to try to get away from Spain, but returned in 1826. He fell ill, and moved to Bordeaux, France, where he died in 1828, at the age of 82. In his honour, Spain's main national film awards are called the Goya Awards.