Francisco de Goya

Francisco de Goya was a significant Spanish artist from the 18th and 19th century, who continued this nation's success within the art world, after the earlier contributions of Diego Velazquez, Bartolomé Esteban Murillo and Francisco de Zurbarán.

Francisco de Goya remains one of the finest artists to have come from Spain, and also one the last Old Masters. This Spanish artist marked the change from the old to the new within European art and all of his most impressive oil paintings are included here within this website which has additional information on the life of the artist alongside each of his works. Francisco de Goya's major works included Nude Maja, Saturn Devouring One of His Children, Witches Sabbath, Third of May, Second of May and Execution of the Defenders of Madrid. Several of his best known paintings, drawings and etchings have extreme importance to the political history of Spain and depict the struggles of his country against the supressive French who at that time were in charge of parts of Spain. Goya would become Painter to the King, a key artistic position in the country in which he was following on from Diego Velazquez.

Goya attempted to get across the struggles of his countrymen in an honest and accurate way that other artists had rarely done at that time. Goya Paintings included the self-portrait, above, but in most cases Goya's subjects were political scenes, portraits or landscapes. Goya portraits would typically be within a scene rather than just head-shots, and this is comparable to perhaps Thomas Gainsborough who would combine portraits and landscapes together to great effect. All of Goya's political paintings concern the French rule over Spain which clearly was of great concern and anger to this artist who chose to use his art as a way of historically capturing these moments for generations to come. Goya sits alongside the likes of Titian, Rembrandt, El Greco, and Caravaggio in this regard.

At the time of Goya's career there were seldom few photographers and journalists to visually capture the historic moments occuring across a turbulent Europe where states were attacking states and countries likewise taking on neighbouring countries, with no boundaries readily accepted as the way they should remain. It was left to artists such as Goya to capture history within their art and use their own reputations to get exposure to each finished painting.

Dog

Dog above is a strange but intriguing painting that holds great charm to many because of it's use of a dog, with pets being to the liking of so many consumers within the art public. Dog represents a very different approach to the usual style of Goya and it could be argued that this painting could actually fit into the abstract art scene. It is interesting to see an artist of this time so willing to try different styles and subjects when traditional art thinking was so strong and relatively unwilling to listen to new ideas.

Francisco de Goya's paintings are popular well beyond the boundaries of his native Spain and the centuries which have passed since his career ended have enabled his reputation to grow as well as spread to new areas, helped increasingly by the exhibitions of his paintings that consistently appear in major art galleries and museums around Europe and North America. For his greatest admirers, reproductions are the best option for having permanent reminders of Goya's career within their own homes and offices, with framed art prints, posters and stretched canvases being the most frequent choices.

Witches Sabbath

Witches Sabbath is another famous painting from Goya and you can see that above. All of the paintings included within this website are accompanied by links to Art.com who we recommend for reproductions of the original works and have used them many times ourselves. Each painting included here is available to buy from Art.com as a framed or unframed art print, posters or stretched canvas, just use the links beside each image to find out more. They offer the best quality prints at affordable prices, in our own personal experience.

Francisco de Goya was actually a court painter to the Spanish Crown for part of his career and you can see from his portraits that he was a well established artist who was never in want of money as his commissions came frequently and always were substantial once he had established himself as the major artist with which anyone worth their salt would want their own portrait to be painted by. This situation brings great benefits in terms of job security but also somewhat restricted Goya in what he could paint for the period that he was involved within the court.

The 3rd of May

The 3rd of May was a major point within the Spanish struggle against French occupation. Francisco de Goya felt it important enough to cover a famous work on it as well as going on to create his famous Black paintings series as well. Famous artists have traditionally taken on political topics within their careers and there are endless examples of this, with Picasso's Guernica one of the best examples, with Pablo Picasso speaking out against Fascism through the power of his art work.

The 2nd and 3rd of May were paintings created in 1814 but covered dates in 1808 at a time when the Spanish country was struggling against a turbulent period under the influence of invading French who were clearly not to the liking of artist Goya.

Annunciation

Annunciation is a beautiful religious depiction and the artist carefully creates an uplifting look with light and symbolism taking over the painting in order to get across it's true majestic importance.

List of Francisco de Goya Paintings

Goya had a long history of success within his career and it is impossible to include every painting and sketch that he created in this homepage, so we just include some of the best. For those looking to learn more about Goya, please see our fuller list below of paintings from his career.

• Second of May 1808
• Third of May 1808
• The Nude Maja
• The Clothed Maja
• Witches Sabbath
• Saturn Devouring His Son
• The Dog
• The Colossus
• Charles IV of Spain and His Family
• Los Caprichos

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