Francisco De Goya - The Last of the Old Masters

“The sleep of reason produces monsters" - Francisco De Goya

This Spanish modern realist painter was basically a court artist who was responsible for painting portraits of the ruling royal family. Other than his official work, he created a diverse range of paintings and other artwork on historic events, wars and other scenes of violence of his time. Francisco De Goya believed that the ‘artist’s vision is more important than tradition’ and is often called "the first of the moderns."

The Parasol - 1777

Francisco De Goya was born Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes in the city of Fuendetodos in Spain on March 30th 1746. He worked as an apprentice to a local painter Jose Lusan at the age of 14 and later travelled to Italy for a higher education in art. On his return to Spain in 1771, he painted frescoes for the local cathedral in the town of Sargossa or Zaragoza. Two years later, he married Josefa Bayeu, the sister of one of his artist friends in Sargossa.

At the age of 46, Fransisco De Goya suffered from a serious illness that resulted in him losing his sense of hearing completely. This permanent deafness and resulting isolation lead him to experiment with his sense of imagination which resulted in the creation of a bold, free caricature style of painting. During the Napoleonic Invasion of Spain, Francisco De Goya painted for the French. When the monarchy in Spain was restored, he was pardoned but was not liked by the new king.

St. Isidro's Meadow – 1789

In his later years he published drawings on bullfighting, which he termed as ‘The Tauromaquia’. He lived in seclusion most of his life and towards the end produced scary paintings of madness and fantasy that came to his mind. This series is known as the ‘Black Paintings’. As most of these paintings are really frightening to look at, I will not be posting them on my blog.

Tired with the political situation in Spain, Francisco De Goya went into exile in Bordeaux, France where he continued to paint till his death in 1828 at the age of 82.

Recently, I downloaded a .pdf book about drawing and painting through itorrent. I will be posting some artwork of my own as soon as I create a few good ones.

All paintings of Francisco De Goya