Francisco De Goya, the great Spanish artist, was born on 30th March 1746 in a place called Fuendetodos, which is located in the province of Saragozza. He moved to Saragozza later with his father who was guilder by profession and studied at a school called “Escuelas Pias de San Anton.” Goya started learning art when he was 13 years old and became an apprentice to a local painter in Saragozza (Felisati and Sperati 264).Initially, Goya copied the work of different artists such as Diego Rodriguez de Silva Velazquez and Rembrandt Van Rijn. He developed a friendship with a painter named Francisco Bayeu, who worked the Court and moved to Madrid.
Goya traveled to Italy in 1770 and to other places like Naples and Rome. He won an art competition arranged by the Academy of Parma for his creation called “Hannibal in the Alps” and got second place. It was the following year that he got his first assignment to decorate the Cathedral. The next 17 years he produced about 62 sketches that covered popular country scenes which were liked by the nobility, the future King Charles IV and his wife, Mary Luise. He got approval to paint the portraits of the nobility. It is believed that his life was not very smooth in terms of women, and he visited taverns on a regular basis.
Goya and Spanish Court
Goya was appointed as a painter to the Royal Court in the year 1779 and started painting portraits for nobility. His paintings were admired and gained popularity, and that got him entry into the Royal Academy of San Fernando. Gradually, his work caught attention from many in royal circles. His portraits captured the minutest details of the facial expressions and body postures. “The Duke and Duchess of Osuna and their Children” is a good example which showcases his caliber for an eye for detail. He became the “Pintore de Camara” which means Court Artist (Francisco de Goya 2016) in the year 1789. Soon, the French Revolution broke out, and France declared war against Spain in 1792. It was during the same year that Goya suffered from an unknown health disorder and stayed for a long time in Cadiz. It is said that the first symptoms of the disorder occurred when he was 31 years old in 1777.
Life During illness
Goya’s unknown illness left him deaf and in spite of his illness, he continued to flourish professionally. He took up non-commissioned paintings, during his recovery phase and displayed women from all spheres of life in his artwork. He displayed a different style of painting. He became the director of the Royal Academy in 1795 and remained associated with the royal establishment. However, as an artist, he did not ignore the plight of common people of Spain in his work. His series of images named “Los Caprichos”1799 portray his views on various social and political events. The prints which are around eighty in number showcase the corruption and greed unchecked, that led to the oppression of the common people (Francisco de Goya 2016).
The official work of Goya carried was critically reviewed, and same critical treatment of the subject, and that is why his painting of the family of Charles IV remains popular among art lovers. Critics have analyzed the work and commented this portrait to be more of a caricature rather than a real portrait. He remained the official painter under Napoleon when he invaded Spain in 1808. He etched many paintings on the subject of horrors of the war while he was the court painter. As an artist, he used his skills to record the moments of the events important to the history of Spain. He even painted “The Third of May” after Spain regained its throne back in 1814 and the artwork shows the uprising in Madrid and real human costs of war and its effects.
Goya, Napoleon and artwork related to political conditions
When Napoleon and his army invaded Spain, the monarchy of Charles IV was brought to an end. The event ushered in brutal attacks and mass executions of Spanish people who opposed the invasion. Goya swore to be loyal towards Napoleon and painted different members of the French government. He was awarded The Royal Order of Spain in 1811 (Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) 2016).
In 1814, Bourbon monarchy came in power again with Napoleon’s fall. Ferdinand VII was not like his father and people were terrified of him. He questioned Goya about his loyalty. Goya did two paintings, The Second of May 1808” and “The Third of May 1808” on war scenes that show Spain’s uprising against French rule. The first painting depicts a brutal scene of the city center of Madrid that shows Spanish soldiers fighting French soldiers on horsebacks. The second painting shows the captured Spaniards being executed on the Principe Pio, a hill outside the city of Madrid.
Goya is Art Style
Goya’s art style finds its base in the Baroque tradition, where the interplay of contrasting lights and dark is very common. He carried this unique style of placing the critical elements outside the picture plane and bringing the immediate action to the foreground. This results in amplified effect in totality. In later works, one finds the artist using darker tones and fluid brush strokes to depict the war pictures and made them look closer to reality. The fluid brush strokes achieve a flawless and smooth base. The element of space helps in creating the right perspective in his paintings. Goya completed a very private series of work between 1820 and 1823 that is referred to as “Black Painting”. The painting exhibits horrifying scenes highlighting dark emotional undertones.
Art Works by Goya
Goya painted “Self Portrait with Doctor Arrieta” in 1820 to express his gratitude to Doctor Arrieta for taking care of him in his acute illness which he suffered in 1819 at the age of 73. The painting affirms that medical practices existed at that time, and establishes compassion and caregiving in human nature. However, he was left weak and disillusioned by deaths in the family and his long illness interfered in his work.
Goya expressed about his poor health to one of his friends and loss of hearing in the following words. “Neither sight nor pen or inkwell; all these I lack and that is plentiful is my will.” There is no doubt that Goya had a strong will power to keep going, and that is the reason that he was able to keep painting and producing artwork. This particular portrait was unlike his other work of art which were termed dark and evoked horror. The artwork depicted the soft side of Goya who could not see humanity in people. When he saw the caring nature of Doctor Arrieta, he admired those qualities and kept a record of them in the painting. The artwork was a gesture to express his gratitude for bringing him out of the darkness of death.
Another striking feature of the painting is that it talks not only about Goya as a patient, but the self-portrait addresses the plight of patients all over the world. Thus, it has a universally accepted quality which arises empathy for sick people (Potter 974). The portrait shows Goya dressed in a gown, taken care by Doctor Arrieta, and is being looked after. Still, there is this isolated feeling in the painting, as Goya looks weak and withered. He has an unkempt look and is at the mercy of the person who is an expert in healing people. He is shown comforting Goya with the therapeutic measures.
The portrait shows a new Goya, with changed opinions at the door of death illness, where things are not in his control. Gone was the strong presence and compelling nature that saw people with mistrust. The self-portrait shows Goya holding a carmine blanket as a link between him and the world. He surrenders to the sympathy shown by his caretaker and sinks into an isolation near his death. It is important to discuss Doctor Arrieta here. He is kind and caring as shown in the painting, but maybe not much hope of Goya’s survival. The doctor cannot reverse the situation. However, he is seen working within his capacity and extends support and care, thus depicting the patient and doctor as one.
Self-Portraiture is not easy for many artists, as revealing about oneself and concealing things at the same time is an art which not everybody can master. It is this through this genre that researchers can find out things about artists that otherwise would not be known. John J Ciofalo’s book “The portraits of Goya” gives a deep insight into the kinds of portraits Goya painted. One of the categories is “Pygmalion and Galatea” and his famous portrait of Duchess Alba (Ciofalo 240). These artworks hint towards Goya’s hostility and animosity for women in general. In the Duchess of Alba, one sees the words “Solo Goya” written in the sand and these refer to the male ego claiming his right of the defined object. It is possible that Goya’s intention was to insult the Duchess by relating her actions to the biblical theme of a woman taken in adultery and whose sins were then written in sand.
The opinions formed on the basis of his paintings are totally agreeable. Goya’s paintings directly show his state of mind, and what he thought. His style and subject matter changed according to his changed state mind and what he felt at that point of time. That is why there is a variety that we see in his work, and one finds dark shades and undertones, mysterious figures to pictures showing beauty and humanity.Final years Goya spent the last years of his life in Paris and Bordeaux. Many of his friends lived in Bordeaux including the painter Delacroix. He asked the King to accept his resignation as the Court Painter and traveled to Spain twice in 1826. The king was generous and relieved him of his duties with a good pension (Felisati and Sperati 267). Goya in his etchings “Los Disparates” shows his dissatisfaction with the rule of Ferdinand, despite the personal risks involved. These paintings contained the carnival theme in which folly, lust, suffering, and death are explored by the artist (Francisco de Goya 2016). The work seems to illustrate the irrational behavior and absurdity prevalent at that time. While his exile in France, in the city of Bordeaux, Goya painted “Bulls of Bordeaux” and a beautiful picture “The Milkmaid of Bordeaux” which was considered as a forerunner of the Romantic Movement (Felisati and Sperati 267). On 16th April 1828 Goya died suffering from an attack of cerebral thrombosis and with this came an end to the illustrious career of a great artist.
Works Cited
Ciofalo, John J. "The Self-Portraits of Francisco Goya." Cambridge University Press 1.1 (2001): 240.
Felisati, D., and G. Sperati. “ Francisco Goya and His Illness.” Acta Otorhinolaryngologica Italica 30.5 (2010): 264–270. Print.
"Francisco de Goya." biography. 2016. Web. 9 May. 2016.
"Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) and the Spanish Enlightenment." metmuseum. 2016. Web. 9 May. 2016
Potter, Polyxeni. “Francisco José de Goya Y Lucientes (1746–1828). Self-Portrait with Doctor Arrieta (1820).” Emerging Infectious Diseases 10.5 (2004): 974. PMC. Web. 9 May 2016.
