Francisco Goya, considered to be
“the Father of Modern Art,” began his painting career
just after the late
period. In expressing his thoughts and
feelings frankly, as he did, he became the pioneer of new artistic
tendencies which were to come to fruition in the 19th century. Two
trends dominated the art of his contradictory; they actually were
not. Together they represented the reaction against previous
conceptions of art and the desire for a new form of expression.
In order to understand the scope of Goya's art, and to appreciate
the principles which governed his development and tremendous
versatility, it is essential to realize that his work extended
over a period of more than 60 years, for he continued to draw and
paint until his 82nd year.
The importance of this factor is
evident between his attitude towards life in his youth, when he
accepted the world as it was quite happily, in his manhood when
he began to criticize it, and in his old age when he became
embittered and disillusioned with people and society. Furthermore,
the world changed completely during his lifetime. The society, in
which he had achieved a great success disappeared during the
Napoleonic war. Long before the end of the 18th century Goya had
already turned towards his new ideals and expressed them in his
graphic art and in his paintings.
As an artist, Goya was by temperament
far removed from the classical. In a few works he approached
Classical style, but in the greater part of his work the
Born in Zaragoza, Spain, he found
employment as a young teenager under the mediocre artist
from whom he learned to draw and as was customary, copied prints
of several masters.
At the age of 17 he went to Madrid.
His style was influenced by two painters who were working there.
The last of the great Venetian painters —
and the rather cold and efficient neo-classical painter —
Antonio Raphael Mengs.
In 1763 he entered a competition at the Royal Academy of San Fernando,
and failed, as he did in the year 1766. In 1770, he want to Rome and
survived by living off his works of art.