FRANCISO GOYA
Nia Ralston
World Civilization
12/11/14
QUESTIONS
Who is he?
Family Tree
What was his illness?
What was his position?
What are his works?
How was he important to the Enlightenment?
Most famous work today
WHO IS HE?
The son of a guilder, Goya spent some of his youth in Saragossa. There he
began studying painting around the age of fourteen. He was a student of
José Luzán Martínez. At first, Goya learned by imitation. He copied the works
of great masters, finding inspiration in the works of such artists as Diego
Rodríguez de Silva y Velázquez and Rembrandt van Rijn.
Later, Goya moved to Madrid, where he went to work with brothers
Francisco and Ramón Bayeu y Subías in their studio. He sought to further his
art education in 1770 or 1771 by traveling to Italy. In Rome, Goya studied the
classic works there. He submitted a painting to a competition held by the
Academy of Fine Arts at Parma. While the judges liked his work, he failed to
win the top prize.
WHAT WAS HIS ILLNESS?
In 1792, Goya became completely deaf after suffering from an unknown
malady.
When Goya was forty-six, in 1792, he contracted a mysterious illness that left
him incapacitated. We know from his letters to close friends that his vision
went blurry, he suffered from comas and partial paralysis, and he struggled
with bouts of dizziness and hearing loss. After the illness left him deaf, his
interior world had to feed itself on light and shadow and emotions, and it
began to populate itself with feelings, longings, and ghosts. Goya became
more withdrawn and introspective and his vitality was directed entirely to his
painting.
WHAT WAS HIS POSITION?
 Ferdinand reportedly once told Goya that "You deserve to be garroted, but you
are a great artist so we forgive you." Others in Spain were not so lucky as the king
sought to crackdown on liberals who sought to make the country a constitutional
state.
 Despite the personal risks, Goya expressed his dissatisfaction with the Ferdinand's
rule in a series of etchings called "Los disparates." These works featured a carnival
theme and explored folly, lust, old age, suffering and death among other issues.
With his grotesque imagery, Goya seemed to illustrate the absurdity of the times.
 The political climate subsequently became so tense that Goya willingly went into
exile in 1824. Despite his poor health, Goya thought he might be safer outside of
Spain. Goya moved to Bordeaux, France, where he spent the remainder of his life.
During this time, he continued to paint. Some of his later works included portraits of
friends also living in exile. Goya died on April 16, 1828, in Bordeaux, France.
WHAT ARE HIS WORKS?
http://www.franciscodegoy
a.net/slideshow.html
HOW WAS HE IMPORTANT TO THE
ENLIGHTENMENT?
• the most important Spanish artist of the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries. Over the course of his long career, Goya moved from
jolly and lighthearted to deeply pessimistic and searching in his paintings,
drawings, etchings, and frescoes.
The Bourbon monarchy was restored with Napoleon's fall in 1814. But the
new king, Ferdinand VII, son of Charles IV, did not share the enlightened
views of his predecessor. He revoked the Constitution, reinstated the
Inquisition, and declared himself absolute monarch. Not long afterward, he
launched a reign of terror. Questioned about his loyalty to the occupiers,
Goya demonstrated his allegiance by commemorating Spain's uprising
against the French regime in two paintings: The Second of May 1808 and The
Third of May 1808.
http://www.franciscodegoya.net