Francisco Goya

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Spanish, 1746-1828) holds a singular place in art history, often described as the last of the Old Masters and simultaneously the first voice of modernity. Active during a period of intense political and social turbulence in Spain, Goya was the most important Spanish artist spanning the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His lengthy career served as a crucial bridge, moving definitively away from the decorative traditions of earlier periods toward the psychological depth and emotional intensity characteristic of Romanticism.

Goya’s prolific output across painting, drawing, and printmaking directly reflected the severe historical upheavals of his era. While serving as a royal painter, his formal portraits combined technical mastery with a penetrating psychological insight rare for official commissions. Works such as María Teresa de Borbón y Vallabriga, later Condesa de Chinchón captured the subject's person as much as their position, often with an understated melancholy. This technical polish stands in remarkable contrast to the unflinching intensity of his graphic works.

Goya concurrently explored the shadows of the human condition through revolutionary printmaking. His earlier etchings, such as The Garroted Man, and his unsettling preparatory drawings, including Brujas à volar (Witches Preparing to Fly) [verso], dispensed entirely with classical decorum, addressing themes of superstition, violence, and institutional cruelty with unprecedented frankness. This duality—the elegant courtier who captured nobility with refinement, and the fierce social critic who skewered society’s faults—is the cornerstone of his genius.

Goya's technical freedom and thematic audacity ensured his influence resonated profoundly with 19th- and 20th-century painters, foreshadowing the concerns of artists who would later reject academic tradition. His ability to fuse raw emotional content with formal innovation secured his reputation far beyond the Spanish court. Today, many significant Francisco Goya paintings and drawings are housed in major institutions globally, including the National Gallery of Art. The accessibility of his vast graphic output means that high-quality prints based on his iconic series are frequently studied and disseminated. Much of his output is now in the public domain, ensuring his genius remains widely accessible to a global audience.