Matrix: Contemporary Printmaking - Museum of Fine Arts - Florida ...

Fall 2009
Artists’ Biographies
Franciso Goya, Self Portrait,
1792-93, brush and gray
wash on paper
Francisco Goya, Disasters of War:
Gloomy Presentiments of Things to
Come, 1810, aquatint and etching
Francisco Goya
Known as “the last of the old masters, and the first of
the modern artists,” Goya inspired many artists with his
determination and talent. He was born in Fuendetodos, Spain
in 1746 to a family that displayed his mother’s crest. His father,
on the other hand, was a guilder.
At fourteen Goya secured an apprenticeship with Jose
Lujan. Later he moved to Madrid where he studied with Mengs,
a German artist whose work was a pre-curser to neoclassicism.
As his art developed he started to enter
competitions. In 1763 and 1766 he submitted his art to the
Royal Academy of Fine Arts but was rejected. He then traveled
to Rome where he entered a painting competition and won a
prize for his work.
Goya then returned home and started studying with
Francisco Bayeu y Subias, a neo-classical painter who focused on religious subjects.
During this time Goya’s paintings started to develop and he gained his own style. He was
bold with his paintbrush and liked to make bold marks. In 1774 he married Josefa, Bayeu’s
sister. He was made a court painter to Charles the Third in 1786 and stayed in that position
for quite some years.
In 1792 his life took at turn for the worse. After a high fever Goya
was left deaf. He did not let that stop him; in fact he succeeded even
more. In 1799 he was made the first court painter to Charles the Fifth.
On his own time Goya started to make a series of aquatint
etchings about the French Revolution and the philosophy behind it. The
aquatints contain disturbing content. Captions let the viewer know what
they are about. An example of such a caption reads, “The sleep of reason
produces monsters.” The series was published in 1799 under the name
Caprichos.
In 1800-1814 the French invaded Spain in the Peninsular War.
This war sparked inspiration for Goya. He painted The Third of May 1808
and another aquatint etching series named Disasters of War. This series
was very brutal and was not published until 1863 due to the controversial
subject matter.
His wife died in 1812. Goya moved in with his
housekeeper in 1814, with whom he is
thought to have born a child. Toward the
last years of his life he wanted to be
isolated so he moved to a house in
Francisco Goya, Los Caprichos:
The Sleep of Reason Produces
Monsters, 1796-98, aquatint and
etching
Manzanares. The house was named “Quinta del Sordo,”
The House of the Deaf. This is where he made his Black
Paintings, a series of portraits that portray shocking themes.
He made 14 of them and painted directly on the walls with oils. Goya left Spain in 1824 and
moved to Bordeaux and settled in Paris where he died in
1828 at the age of 82.
14