Francisco Goya was born in a small town near
Saragossa, Spain. His
father was a painter and a gilder. A gilder is an artisan who applies
thin sheets of gold to paintings such as altar pieces in churches. When
he was fourteen he was apprenticed to a local artist. This was the
beginning of his art career.
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He went to Rome for a year and then returned to Spain.
It was during
this time he did several large fresco projects. A fresco is a painting
done on a wall or ceiling by using watercolors on fresh, moist plaster
which has been applied to the surface.
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His marriage to Josefa, the sister of a painter in the
royal court, was
the turning point of his career. He became the official court painter
for King Charles III (the Third) and worked in the royal tapestry
factory.
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Wealthy people wanted him to paint portraits of
themselves and their families. Some of them wanted to be painted as "
majos" or "majas" ,
young working-class men and women in Madrid who sometimes would dress
up in brightly colored costumes and parade through the streets.
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The featured work on this page, " Manuel Osorio de Zuniga" was painted during
this period of his life.
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Goya and Josefa had six children, but sadly only one
of them, Xavier, survived. All the others died in infancy.
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In 1792 Goya suffered an illness which caused him to
become deaf. His
life changed, and so did his paintings. His works became very dark in
color, and the subjects were evil-looking. He covered his walls with
these "black paintings". How depressing!
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He continued as the court painter for King Charles IV
(the Fourth). He painted a family portrait for the king called " La Familia de Carlos IV" .
However, the finished picture was very unflattering. "The children
cower, the king looks stupid, and the queen bad-tempered" (Quote from
Fandex Field Guides, Painters) The king didn't dismiss him, but he
never asked Goya to paint another family portrait for him.
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When he wanted to make a statement about the politics
of the time, he painted a series of pictures called "Caprices" . He would depict a person as a
donkey or paint other scenes to ridicule certain people.
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In 1823 Goya signed over to his grandson his house,
which was known as
the "House of the Deaf Man". He left Spain and moved to Paris. Three
years later he returned to Spain for a visit. The king granted him a
retirement pension and ordered an official painting of
Goya to be done by Vincente Lopez.
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His eyesight began to fail, then he suffered
paralysis, and finally
died in 1828 at the age of 82. He was buried in France, but later his
remains were moved to Spain and buried in Madrid.
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