South Park Fine Art Gallery

Francisco Goya

1746-1828
Goya was born in Fuendetodos, a small village in northern Spain. His father was a gilder and at the age of 14 he was apprenticed to the painter, Jose Luzan in Saragossa. He also studied in Italy. His fame was achieved early on through the fresco paintings he created in the Rococo style for cathedrals in Saragossa. From 1775-1792 he created designs for tapestries, which led to his interest in depicting scenes from everyday life, and he became adept at observing and documenting human behavior. He eventually became a portrait painter for the Spanish aristocracy, and was named painter to the king in 1780, and made a court painter in 1789.

In 1792 Goya became deaf due to a serious illness. This profoundly changed him and his work, as he became more occupied with inventions of his imagination and with critical and satirical observations of the foibles of human nature. His etchings reflected most his darker nature and he created series of etched works based on themes. His series ?The Disasters of War? recorded the barbarism of the French invasion of 1808, and today remains some of the most horrifying depictions of war ever created. In 1799, he published ?the Caprichos,? a series of etchings satirizing human folly. ?Tauromachia (1816)? represented Goya?s interpretation of the bullfight, and ?Los Proverbios? is a haunting series of etchings depicting the darker nature of man. In his etchings one sees the evolution of Goya?s freer style akin to caricature. Goya also created some of the first masterpieces of the newly discovered medium, lithography, and was among the first to explore it as an alternative to painting.

For the bold technique of his paintings, the haunting and satirical nature of his etchings, and his belief that the traditions of painting were less important than the artist?s own unique vision and interpretation, Goya is often considered the first ?modern? artist. His portrayal of his times with an uncompromising critical eye marks the beginning of the realism that emerged in the art of the 19th century.