Francisco Goya

In 1773, he married his art teacher Bayeu’s sister, Josefa Bayeu y Subias. Though the couple had several children, but only one survived to adulthood – their son Xavier.

He moved to the outskirts of Madrid, where he purchased a house along River Manzanares called Quinta del Sordo (Deaf Man’s Villa) in 1819, but relocated to Bordeaux in 1824 and later Paris.

He returned to Spain in 1826, but went back to Bordeaux where he suffered a stroke in 1828 and died in April, aged 82.

Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes was born on March 30, 1746, in Fuendetodos, Aragon, Spain, to master gilder Jose Benito de Goya y Franque and Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador.

His family moved to Saragossa some years later where he started working as an apprentice under painter Jose Luzan at the age of 14.

He learnt painting by imitating the works of great masters for the first four years and later moved to Madrid to study under German painter Anton Raphael Mengs.

He applied to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 1763 and 1766, but was denied admission on both occasions.

He moved to Rome where he was runner up at a painting competition in 1771 and returned to Saragossa for various projects before studying under Francisco Bayeu y Subias which brought him initial success and recognition.

His introduction to royal workshops in 1774 by Mengs to paint tapestry cartoons for the Royal Tapestry Factory in Madrid proved as a boon to his artistic development.

He completed more than 60 cartoons over the next five years depicting scenes from everyday life, several of which were used to adorn the two royal Spanish residences at San Lorenzo del Escorial and El Pardo.

He was appointed as a painter at the royal court in 1779 and elected as a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Art in 1780.

He started getting recognition as a portrait artist among various royal circles, composing portraits for the Count of Floridablanca, Crown Prince Don Luis, and the Duke and Duchess of Osuna.

He was appointed as a court painter under Charles IV in 1789 and became a salaried painter in 1799, eventually capturing numerous Spanish nobles, like 9th Duke of Osuna, Maria del Pilar de Silva, and Pedro Tellez-Giron, on the canvas.

‘The Nude Maja’ (1800) and ‘The Clothed Maja’ (1803) are said to be his best compositions, illustrating a woman in nude and clothed positions, respectively.

His ‘Disasters of War’, created during the 1810s, was believed to be a representation of the Dos de Mayo Uprising during the 1808, which led to the Peninsular War of 1808-1814.

He painted ‘The Third of May 1808’ and ‘The Charge of the Mamelukes’ in 1814, portraying the horrors of the Peninsular War fought between Spain and France and the subsequent loss of human lives.

His major works during 1814-19 included print series of ‘La Tauromaquia’, etchings of ‘Los Disparates’, and altarpiece of Santa Justa and Santa Rufina for the Cathedral of Seville.

He created a group of 14 paintings, known as the ‘Black Paintings’, as murals on the walls of his house outside Madrid, probably during 1819-1823, which were removed and transferred onto canvas, some 50 years after his death.