Francisco de Goya y Lucientes was an incredible Spanish painter who specialized in romantic paintings- widely considered the most important Spanish artist of his time. Francisco Goya was a significant influence on 19th and 20th-century painters through his drawings, engravings, and paintings.
Goya was born in Fuendetodos, Aragon, in 1746 to a middle-class family. From 14, he studied painting with José Luzán y Martinez before moving to Madrid to learn under Anton Raphael Mengs. In 1773, he married Josefa Bayeu. Unfortunately, their lives were marked by a series of losses and pregnancies, with only a single child, a boy, living to adulthood.
When Goya was appointed court painter to the Spanish Crown in 1786, he seemed poised for great success. His early work included portrayals of the Spanish nobility and royalty and Rococo-style tapestry cartoons for the royal palace. Though he kept his beliefs to himself, he left behind letters and papers for future generations to explore. He went deaf in 1793 due to a severe and undetected illness, and his art became darker and pessimistic.
Francisco Goya’s Famous Paintings
Goya is regarded as one of the last Old Masters and a forefather of modern art. In addition, he is associated with Romanticism, a late-eighteenth-century movement. While these responsibilities may appear incompatible, a closer examination of his most well-known works of art can help make the connection. Here are some of Goya’s most famous works.
The painting Nude Maja, which depicts a woman from the lower classes, is one of his most controversial. The Nude Maja is a contemporary figure gratuitously depicted without clothing, with no allegorical, mythological, or historical implications. The piece’s actual beginnings are uncertain, although historians are made to believe that it was commissioned by Manuel de Godoy, Spain’s First Secretary of State, to add to his collection of nude paintings.
As a painter who worked for nobles and royalty, Goya was rated highly, and by 1799, he had become the highest Spanish court painter. One of his most famous works was during this period; he made a painting of Charles IV of Spain and his family. Even though Goya took a different style to paint the royal family than Velázquez, it is apparent that he drew inspiration from the artist. Charles IV of Spain and His Family contains a self-portrait of the artist sitting at his easel, similar to Las Meninas, Velázquez’s most famous royal picture.
Saturn Devouring His Son
Goya – Saturn Devouring His Sons
The final painting we will explore in this section is Saturn Devouring His Son to know about Francisco de Goya. Francisco Goya art- black paintings, a collection of 14 frightening paintings, were made between 1819 and 1823. These paintings were created to adorn the walls of the aged and ailing artist’s Madrid home—by this point, he had experienced two significant illnesses and was dealing with worry as a result of them. Saturn Devouring His Son, a gruesome oil painting portraying a parent dining on his child, is one of the most well-known of these terrifying masterpieces.
Saturn was the commander of the Titans who overthrew his father, Caelus, in a quest to dominate the universe in Roman mythology. He was afraid that if he succeeded in destroying Caelus, his successors would do the same. Therefore, he killed and ate each child immediately after birth to avoid this fate.
However, Goya represented Saturn’s son as an adult. Saturn Devouring His Son, a gruesome oil painting portraying a parent dining on his child, is one of the most well-known of these terrifying masterpieces. Saturn was the commander of the Titans who overthrew his father, Caelus, in a quest to dominate the universe in Roman mythology. He was afraid that if he succeeded in destroying Caelus, his successors would do the same. Therefore, he killed and ate each child immediately after birth to avoid this fate. However, Goya represented Saturn’s son as an adult.
Early Training
Goya began his studies in Zaragoza with José Luzán y Martínez, a local artist who had studied in Naples and then became a disciple of court painter Francisco Bayeu, whose sister he married in 1773.
He continued his studies in Italy, arriving in Rome in 1771. In the same year, he moved back to Zaragoza, where he received his first significant contract for cathedral paintings, which he completed over the next ten years.
These and other early religious paintings in Zaragoza are in the Baroque-Rococo style, which was popular in Spain. They are influenced by the great Venetian painter Giovanni Battista Tiepolo, who spent the latter years of his life in Madrid (1762–70).
The Career
Goya joined the Royal Academy of San Fernando in Madrid in 1780, using Christ on the Cross as his admission piece – a composition in the style of Mengs but painted in the naturalistic style of Velázquez’s Christ on the Cross. When Charles III became king in 1788, Goya was appointed as the Academy’s deputy director of painting and became painter to the King. His earliest known portraits of court officials and members of the nobility, who he depicted in traditional 18th-century attitudes, are from this decade.
The rigid elegance of the figures in full-length paintings of society ladies, like The Marquesa de Pontejos, and the fluent painting of their costly clothes link them to Velázquez’s court portraits and his depiction of Charles III as Huntsman is based directly on Velázquez’s royal huntsmen.
Forerunner for Artistic Works
Many 20th century painters, including Salvador Dali and Pablo Picasso, drew inspiration from artist Francisco Goya, especially his Black paintings. He also inspired many poets and authors with his paintings. If you read about Francisco de Goya, you’ll see that he was an excellent forerunner for artistic works and laid a good foundation for those who came after him. You can check paintings by artist Francisco de Goya on the internet and maybe purchase them.
Rizwan Butt