Francisco de Goya - Delphi Complete Paintings of Francisco de Goya (Illustrated)

(1746-1828)

Contents

Delphi Classics 2016

Version 1

Masters of Art Series

Francisco de Goya

By Delphi Classics, 2016

Masters of Art - Francisco de Goya

First published in the United Kingdom in 2016 by Delphi Classics.

Delphi Classics, 2016.

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Fuendetodos, a town in the Campo de Belchite comarca, Aragon, Spain Goyas birthplace

The house of Goyas birth

View inside Goyas birthplace

Goya as a young man, c. 1771

THE HIGHLIGHTS

In this section, a sample of Goyas most celebrated works is provided, with concise introductions, special detail reproductions and additional biographical images.

The fourth of six children, Francisco de Goya was born in Fuendetodos, Aragn, Spain, on 30 March 1746 to Jos Benito de Goya y Franque and Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador. The family had moved that year from the city of Zaragoza, though for what reason remains a mystery. They were a lower middle-class family, with Jos being the son of a notary and of Basque origin, earning his living as a gilder specialising in religious and decorative craftwork, having worked on the principal cathedral of Zaragoza. Franciscos maternal family had pretensions of nobility and the house, although a modest brick cottage, was owned by her family and bore their crest.

By 1749 Jos and Gracia bought a home in Zaragoza and were able to return to live in the city. Although there are no surviving records, it is thought that Goya may have attended the Escuelas Pas de San Antn, which offered free schooling. His education seems to have been adequate, but not extensive. He picked up a reasonable understanding of reading, writing and numeracy, with some knowledge of the classics. While at school he formed a close and lifelong friendship with fellow pupil Martin Zapater and the 131 letters Goya wrote to him, from 1775 until Zapaters death in 1801, provide a valuable insight into the artists early years at the court in Madrid.

Aged fourteen, Goya studied in the artist Jos Luzns workshop, where he copied stamps for four years until he decided to set out on his own. Goya moved to Madrid where he studied with Anton Raphael Mengs, a painter that was popular with Spanish royalty. He clashed with his master and his examinations proved to be unsatisfactory. At this time Goya submitted entries for the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 1763 and 1766, but was both times refused entrance to the prestigious school.

Having failed to earn a scholarship, Goya moved at his own expense to Rome, following in the footsteps of many great artists before him, seeking inspiration from the great masters of the Renaissance and Baroque. Records of Goyas activities at this time remain few and obscure, with one report claiming that Goya travelled to Rome with a gang of bullfighters, where he worked as a street acrobat, while another describes him toiling for a Russian diplomat, and yet another concerns his falling in love with a beautiful young nun, whom he plots to abduct from her convent.

In the early 1770s Goya studied with the Aragnese artist Francisco Bayeu y Subas, at which time his painting began to show signs of the delicate tonalities for which he would become famous in later years. Becoming good friends with Bayeu, Goya married Bayeus sister Josefa on 25 July 1773 and they had their first child, Antonio Juan Ramon Carlos, on 29 August 1774. This marriage and Bayeus 1765 membership of the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando and directorship of the tapestry works helped Goya earn a commission for a series of tapestry cartoons for the Royal Tapestry Factory. Over five years he designed over forty patterns, many of which were used to decorate and insulate the stone walls of El Escorial and the Palacio Real del Pardo, the residences of the Spanish monarchs. Though designing tapestries was neither prestigious nor well paid, his popularist, rococo style allowed him to foster wider interest in his art, while he was learning to perfect his painterly technique for the greater works to come.

The tapestries depicted serene events in everyday life to complement the dining room of Prince and Princess of Asturias, the future King Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma. The queen especially called on Goya as she wanted to decorate the dining room with cheerful scenes. The following plate, The Parasol (1777), now housed in the Museo del Prado in Madrid, along with many other tapestry paintings, aptly demonstrates Goyas response to this request. Illustrating Goyas penchant for French fashion, rather than Spanish tastes at that time, the canvas portrays a woman sitting on the ground, appearing to rest after a long walk. She is dressed in contemporary French fashion, holding a fan in her right hand, while a little dog is nestled in her lap. A young man holds a parasol to shade her face from the suns rays. He is dressed in the majo (peasant) style, his hair gathered in a net and his belt is made of colourful silk. In the background we can see dark clouds in the sky and the trees swaying in the wind, hinting at a storm in the distant future. Nevertheless, the image evokes a sense of calm and idleness, which is only disturbed by the strong breeze blowing against the tree.