Facts about Francisco Goya

1. 15

   Born into a modest family, Francisco Goya trained under painter José Luzán in Zaragoza before traveling to Italy in 1770 to study art firsthand.

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2. 14

   Goya's 1786 painting The Parasol depicts a young woman and man in a rococo garden scene that became one of his most beloved and commercially successful works during his lifetime.

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3. 13

   Goya's appointment as Director of Painting at the Spanish Royal Academy in 1795 marked official recognition of his artistic authority before his elevation to First Painter four years later.

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4. 12

   Goya's portrait of the Duchess of Alba, painted in 1797, sparked controversy for its intimate pose and the artist's rumored affair with his aristocratic subject.

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5. 11

   Goya's 1746 birth in Fuendetodos, a small Aragonese village, gave Spain an artist whose work would eventually influence modernist painters from Manet to Picasso nearly a century later.

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6. 10

   Goya's painting Saturn Devouring His Son, created around 1821 as part of the Black Paintings series, measures approximately 146 by 83 centimeters and depicts the titan consuming a human figure in grotesque, flesh-toned horror.

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7. 09

   Approximately 1,400 drawings and sketches survive from Goya's personal notebooks, revealing his artistic process and private observations on Spanish life from the 1770s through 1820s.

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8. 08

   Goya's series of paintings titled The Disasters of War, comprising 82 etchings created between 1810 and 1820, documented the brutal consequences of Spain's conflict with Napoleonic forces with unflinching realism.

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9. 07

   During the Peninsular War, Goya witnessed the execution of Spanish resistors by Napoleon's forces on May 3, 1808, an event he later immortalized in his 1814 painting The Third of May.

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10. 06

    Goya's series of etchings called Los Caprichos, created around 1799, contained 80 satirical prints mocking Spanish society, superstition, and ignorance with unprecedented artistic boldness.

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11. 05

    Over 500 paintings and prints survive from Goya's career spanning more than five decades, establishing him as one of the most prolific Spanish artists in history.

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12. 04

    Goya served as First Painter to the Spanish Royal Court from 1799 until his death in 1828, painting portraits of King Charles IV and his family during the Peninsular War.

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13. 03

    At age 82, Goya completed his final painting, a self-portrait titled Self-Portrait with Doctor Arrieta, showing the artist recovering from a severe illness in 1820.

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14. 02

    The Black Paintings, a series of 14 murals created directly on the walls of Goya's Madrid home between 1819 and 1823, depict nightmarish and violent scenes unlike any Spanish art produced before.

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15. 01

    In 1792, Francisco Goya suffered a severe illness that left him completely deaf for the remainder of his life.

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