Goya
1746-1828

Francisco DE Paula Jose De Goya Y Lucientes was born on 30th March 1746 in the small town of Fuendetodos. He started his apprenticeship with and artist, Jose Luzanwhen he left school. In 1763 he went to Madrid to compete for a place at the Academy of San Fernando, he failed twice the second time in 1766. Although he was able to stay in Madrid to continue to study painting notably in the studio of Fransisco Bayeu, the court painter. In 1770 he went to Italy to study the great works of the Renaissance, while there he won a competition at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of the City of Parma in 1771. After which he returned to Spain where he was given his forst commission to paint frescos in the Pilar Cathedral in Saragossa. In 1773, Goya was back in Madrid and he married Josefa Bayeu, the sister of the painter Fransisco Bayeu. Bayeu was instrumental at this time in obtaining a commission for Goya to paint a series of cartoons that would be transformed into tapestries that would be hung in a royal palace. In 1780 he was admitted to the Academy of San Fernando after submitting his painting of Christ on the cross, and, two years later he gained a patron in the Count of Floridablanca. When he painted the altarpiece for the church if San Franciso el Grande, he caught the eye of Charles, III and two years later he was appointed court painter. When Charles IV became king in 1789 Goya was confirmed in his position as court painter and his first royal portraits were painted at this time. In 1792 Goya became gravely ill nad it had huge consequences on his art and his life. During his illness he became paralysed and nearly blind and he was not expected to recover. And indeed although he recovered slowly his illness left him profoundly deaf. The years after his illness were busy ones for Goya he painted the duke and Duchess of Alba as well as the Los Caprichos as well as many other excellent portraits. As Spain fell into the horrors of civil war Goyas art reflected this, with his Disasters of War series and the charge of the Marmalukes. Then personal tragedy hit Goyas life and his wife died in 1812. In 1819 Goya again became seriously ill while living in Madrid and it was at this time he startedpainting his 'black paintings'. Becoming disenchanted with Spain he moved to France then back to Spain, Finally he moved to Bordeaux where he died on 16th April 1828.

Christ on the Cross 1780

Goya paintings


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