Art
1746–1828 · Spanish
Romanticism
Francisco Goya was court painter to the Spanish Crown and a bridge between the Old Masters and modern art. After illness left him deaf he turned to darker themes, recording the horrors of the Napoleonic wars and painting the nightmarish Black Paintings on the walls of his own house.
The Third of May 1808 (1814)
Museo del Prado, Madrid
French firing squad executing Madrid civilians; the victim in white raises his arms like Christ
Image: El_Tres_de_Mayo,_by_Francisco_de_Goya,_from_Prado_in_Google_Earth.jpg : Francisco de Goya derivative work: Papa Lima Whiskey 2 · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
La maja desnuda (The Nude Maja) (c. 1797–1800)
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Paired with La maja vestida (The Clothed Maja); Goya was later summoned by the Inquisition over it
Image: Francisco Goya · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Saturn Devouring His Son (c. 1820–1823)
Museo del Prado, Madrid
The most famous of the Black Paintings, painted on the walls of his house
Image: Francisco Goya · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
Charles IV of Spain and His Family (1800–1801)
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Royal group portrait echoing Las Meninas – Goya includes himself at his easel, top left
Image: Francisco Goya · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons
The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters (c. 1797–1799)
Etching, plate 43 of Los Caprichos (impressions in many collections)
The artist asleep at his desk while owls and bats swarm around him
Image: Francisco Goya · Public domain, Wikimedia Commons