Goya

The career of Francisco Goya (1746-1828) was a great triumph in the history of Spanish art. The son of a peasant craftsman from rural Aragon had, by the age of forty, infiltrated the most exclusive aristocracy in Western Europe, becoming court painter to the Kings of Spain. But behind his glittering portrayals of the royal family and figures of state was another world of beggars, madmen, convicts, giants and cripples: the inhabitants of the artist's private obsessions. His art expressed the full range of human experience and he became known in his lifetime as'the philosophical painter'. Goya's mastery of almost every graphic technique, from tapestry cartoons to lithographs, gave him a range of pictorial clarity and expression that was at once profound, diverting and subversive. Sarah Symmons' fascinating new book places Goya within the context of his Spanish heritage, traces the immense influence of his work throughout Europe and considers the continued relevance of his art in the twentieth century. She draws on the most recent scholarship and on rediscovered works to create a comprehensive portrait of his most complex and enigmatic of artists. Copyright (C) Muze Inc. 2005. For personal use only. All rights reserved.