Francisco De Goya y Lucientes (b. March

30, 1746, Fuendetodos, Spain--d. April 16,

1828, Bordeaux, Fr.), consummately

Spanish artist whose multifarious paintings,

drawings, and engravings reflected

contemporary historical upheavals and

influenced important 19th- and 20th-

century painters.

Goya was a Spanish court painter whose

best work was done apart from his official

duties.

For the bold technique of his paintings, the haunting satire of his etchings, and his belief that the artist's vision is more important than tradition, Goya is often called "the first of the moderns." His uncompromising portrayal of his times marks the beginning of 19th-century realism.

Goya was born in Fuendetodos, Aragón, Spain, on March 30, 1746 to José Benito de Goya y Franque and Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador.

Goya may have attended school at Escuelas Pias. He formed a close friendship with Martin Zapater at this time, and their correspondence from the 1770s to the 1790s is a valuable source for understanding Goya's early career at the court of Madrid. At age 14, Goya studied under the painter José Luzán. He moved to Madrid where he studied with Anton Raphael Mengs, a painter who was popular with Spanish royalty.

He clashed with his master, and his examinations were unsatisfactory. Goya submitted entries for the Royal Academy of Fine Art in 1763 and 1766, but was denied entrance.

This marriage, and Francisco Bayeu'smembership of the Royal Academy of Fine Art (from the year 1765) helped Goya to procure work as a painter of designs to be woven by the Royal Tapestry Factory.

At the age of 75, alone and in mental and physical despair, he completed the work as one of his 14 Black Paintings, all of which were executed in oil directly onto the plaster walls of his house. Goya did not intend for the paintings to be exhibited, did not write of them,and likely never spoke of them. It was not until around 1874, some 50 years after his death, that they were taken down and transferred to a canvas support.

A

Butcher’s

Counter

Blind Guitarist

The Burial of

Sardine

Charles IV and

his family

Crucified Christ

Doña Isabel Cobos

De Porcel

Don Manuel Osorio

Manrique De Zuniga

Fire at Night

Saturn devouring

his son

The Third of May

The Colossus

Portrait of the

Duke of Wellington

The Bewitched

Man

Nude

Maja

Clothed

Maja

The Duchess of

Alba

The Duchess of

Alba and her

Duenna

The Esquilache

Riots

The Queen

Maria Luisa

Witches in the air

Witches

Sabbath