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Goya´s birth
Goya was born in Fuendetodos (Zaragoza), Aragón, Spain, in 1746 to José Benito de Goya y Franque and Gracia de Lucientes y Salvador.
* Map of Zaragoza in his year of birth -
Studies
Goya may have attended school at Escuelas Pias. At age 14, Goya studied under the painter José Luzán. He moved to Madrid where he studied with Anton Raphael Mengs, a painter who was popular with Spanish royalty. He clashed with his master, and his examinations were unsatisfactory. Goya submitted entries for the Royal Academy of Fine Art in 1763 and 1766, but was denied entrance.
* Anton Raphael Mengs -
Basilica of the Pillar
He returned to Zaragoza and painted parts of the cupolas of the Basilica of the Pillar (including Adoration of the Name of God), a cycle of frescoes in the monastic church of the Charterhouse of Aula Dei, and the frescoes of the Sobradiel Palace.
* Basilica of the Pillar -
Marriage
Goya married Bayeu's sister Josefa (he nicknamed her "Pepa") on 25 July 1773
* Josefa Bayeu -
El Escorial
There, over the course of five years, he designed some 42 patterns, many of which were used to decorate the bare stone walls of El Escorial and the Palacio Real del Pardo, the newly built residences of the Spanish monarchs near Madrid. He also painted a canvas for the altar of the Church of San Francisco El Grande in Madrid, which led to his appointment as a member of the Royal Academy of Fine Art.
* The altar of the Church of San Francisco El Grande -
Floridablanca
In 1783, the Count of Floridablanca, a favourite of King Carlos III, commissioned Goya to paint his portrait -
Charles III
In 1786, Goya was given a salaried position as painter to Charles III. After the death of Charles III in 1788 and revolution in France in 1789, during the reign of Charles IV, Goya reached his peak of popularity with royalty. -
ILLNESS
At some time between late 1792 and early 1793, a serious illness (the exact nature of which is not known), left Goya deaf, and he became withdrawn and introspective. During his recuperation, he undertook a series of experimental paintings.
* La Tirana (1792) -
Charles IV
He painted the King Charles IV and the Queen, royal family pictures, portraits of the Prince of the Peace and many other nobles. His portraits are notable for their disinclination to flatter, and in the case of Charles IV of Spain and His Family, the lack of visual diplomacy is remarkable. -
Joseph I
French forces invaded Spain in 1808, leading to the Peninsular War of 1808 - 1814. Goya's involvement with the court of the "Intruder king", Joseph I, the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, is not known; he did paint works for French patrons and sympathisers, -
The Disasters of War
After the restoration of the Spanish king, Ferdinand VII, in 1814, Goya denied any involvement with the French. When his wife Josefa died in 1812, he was mentally and emotionally processing the war by painting The Charge of the Mamelukes and The Third of May 1808, and preparing the series of prints later known as The Disasters of War (Los desastres de la guerra). Ferdinand VII returned to Spain in 1814 but relations with Goya were not cordial.
* ¨Los fusilamientos del 3 de mayo¨ -
Black Paintings
In 1819, with the idea of isolating himself, he bought a country house by the Manzanares river just outside of Madrid. It was known as the Quinta del Sordo, there he created the Black Paintings.
* ¨Saturno devorando a su hijo¨ -
Leocadie Weiss
Leocadia Weiss the artist's maid a distant relative, lived with and cared for Goya after Bayeu's death. She stayed with him in his with her daughter Rosario until 1824 -
Restored Spanish monarchy's
Goya lost faith in or became threatened by the restored Spanish monarchy's anti-liberal political and social stance and left Spain in May 1824 for Bordeaux and then Paris. -
Dead
Finally Goya died in Bordeaux.