Marquesa de Pontejos

Goya

Marquesa de Pontejos
c. 1786
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.
Photographed by Team C004570

 

 Francisco de Goya y Lucientes was born on March 30, 1746 in Fuendetodos, Spain. His artistic education began at age 14 when he was apprenticed with Jose Luzan who was a local master. He worked under his brother in law, Francisco Bayeu, in 1763. His artwork was influenced by Anton Raphael Mengs. Throughout his 60 year career as a painter his style changed numerous times.

He moved to Madrid in 1775 and became Deputy Director of the Academy in 1785. By 1786, he was working under King Charles III and was appointed first court painter in 1799. Goya fell ill on a visit to Spain in 1792 and, as a result, became totally deaf. His loss of hearing marked a turning point in his style where a gloomy, pessimistic mood entered his paintings.

Political tension in Spain rose when Napoleon invaded Spain and replaced Ferdinand VII, Charles's successor, with Joseph Bonaparte. During this period, Goya painted numerous images of the brutality of war in a series entitled The Disasters of War. When the Spanish government was restored and Goya was pardoned for having worked with Bonaparte. He continued his work for the Spanish court  for ten years, until tensions forced him to move to France in 1824 where he took up the art of lithography. He died on April 16, 1828 in Bordeaux, France.

©2000 Team C004570