Francisco De Goya

By Sandra Forty

The greatest artist of the 18th century, Francisco de Goya began his career as an apprentice to a local artist where one of his jobs was adding draperies and modesty items to nude figures in religious paintings; for this he was titled “Reviser of Indecent Paintings.” But by the age of 40, Goya had established himself as a leading Spanish artist. Goya simultaneously pursued a number of disparate projects, commissions he received from prestigious churches and royalty, as well as producing several lengthy series of lithographs to express his dislike of several subjects, notably Spanish high society and war. Brushing into controversy on several occasions, Goya threaded the political needle of alternating French and Spanish rule of his home country of Spain as well as successfully navigated the choppy waters of the Spanish Inquisition when it questioned the morality of La Maja Desnuda, one of his most famous paintings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: TAJ Books International
• Release date: Nov 19, 2014
• ISBN: 9781844063932

Sandra Forty

Sandra Forty is a graduate of London University where she studied medieval and early modern history, including a spell at the Courtauld Institute learning about Renaissance art from Professor Gombrich. Since then she has worked as a journalist in London, then as a book editor and writer. She is the author of a number of books, most on art and architecture. Sandra lives in south Devon with her husband, children and many cats.

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GOYA

T&J

Published by TAJ Books International LLC 2014

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Copyright © 2014 TAJ Books International LLC

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ISBN 978-1-84406-323-9

Paperback 978-1-623732-018-4

Printed in China

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GOYA

T&J

S A N D R A      F O R T Y

Contents

Goya

Index

GOYA

1746–1828

The greatest artist of the 18th century was born Francisco Jose Goya y Lucientes (the de was added later) on March 30, 1746, in the remote village of Fuendetodos in Aragon. His father was a gilder and his mother very minor gentry. When he was around the age of 14 the family moved about 25 miles north to Saragossa, the capital of the region, where he went to school and took his first instruction in art. There he studied under the Baroque painter Jose Luzän, the leading local artist. One of his jobs was adding draperies and modesty items to nude figures in religious paintings; for this he was titled Reviser of Indecent Paintings.

During his apprenticeship in Saragossa, Goya met and befriended another local Aragonese artist, Francisco Bayeu y Subias, and although 12 years older and more successful, they got on well together. Bayeu started making a name for himself and moved to Madrid where all the wealthiest patrons lived. In 1763 at the age of 18, Goya followed. In Madrid he joined the more classically inclined studio of Bohemian artist Anton Raphael Mengs. The latter