Goya Lucientes, Francisco de (1746-1828)

Born in Fuendetodos, the fourth child of a wealthy peasant family. He studied drawing from the age of thirteen at the Zaragoza Academy under the direction of José Luzán. Later he continued his training with Francisco Bayeu Subías. After modest beginnings in Aragon, a courtly career appeared to be the only one possible for a young man with ambitions. He moved to Madrid in 1763, following Bayeu, who worked on the decoration of the Royal Palace.

He traveled to Italy on his own. In his travel notebook he collected notes from the cities he visited, all in the north, including Bologna, Venice, Parma and Milan, traveling back through Genoa and Marseille.

In 1773 he married Josefa Bayeu in Madrid. In 1775 he began his work as a painter of tapestry cartoons for the Royal Factory of Santa Bárbara, recommended by Bayeu. Goya later proudly claimed that it was Mengs who made him return from Rome for the Royal Service.

In 1780 he entered the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando as a member of merit, unanimously. In this decade Goya’s activity as a portrait painter began fully.

Goya was appointed lieutenant director of Painting at the Academy of San Fernando in 1785, and the following year, he was appointed painter to the King. Goya had achieved an excellent position at Court, which deeply flattered him, and he was already painting, in addition to the king, for the highest aristocracy.

Towards the end of 1790 the first symptoms of the serious illness that occurred at the beginning of 1793 appeared, tremors and dizziness to which he refers in his letters.

At the beginning of 1797 he resigned from his position as director of Painting at the Academy due to his worsening health. The release of the responsibilities of the Academy determined the most prolific years of Goya’s life with exceptional portraits.

The 1790s culminated with the appointment of Goya as the first Chamber Painter, the highest step in his courtly career. His approach to Godoy is then dated, as well as the patronage of the Dukes of Alba. In 1799 he published the masterpieces of satire against vices and customs of society that were Los Caprichos.

Goya remained in Madrid during the War against Napoleon (1808-1814) and swore allegiance to Joseph Bonaparte as a palace officer. In May, Goya successfully passed the purge of palace officials in the service of the French government, recovered his salary and rights and painted again for the Crown and its high dignitaries, although from 1815 the artist began to distance himself from the Court. replaced in the monarch’s taste by Vicente López, and he then focused on his private activity.

He also worked on the etchings of the Disasters of War, a denunciation of violence against the defenseless people, and on Bullfighting, published in 1816.

In May 1824 Goya requested permission from the King to go to France to drink the mineral waters of Plombières (Vosges). Goya could have decided on his exile; however, there is no reliable news of his departure since the trips he made between 1824 and 1828 to Madrid from Bordeaux, as well as his letters to the King to request his leave and retirement, do not indicate that he was persecuted.

His time in Bordeaux focused on intimate, small-format works. He then became passionate about a new technique, lithography, and used Cyprien Gaulon’s establishment to print the Bordeaux Bulls series.

When he died, on April 16, 1828, he was appreciated only by the small group of friends and family who accompanied him to the end, since his art, deeply individual, was far from the fashions of the moment.