Monday 21 October 2024

Francisco de Goya - part 7

Self-Portrait
oil on canvas 45.8 x 35.6 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid

Francisco de Goya was a Spanish artist widely considered one of the most important painters of the Romantic period. The artist took on a wide array of subject matter, including self-portraiture, fantasy scenes, landscapes, and still lifes. “Painting, like poetry, selects in the universe whatever she deems most appropriate to her ends,” he once explained. Born Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes in the town of Fuendetodos, Spain on March 30, 1746, he began studying art under the painter Jose Luzán at the age of 14. During the 1770s, Goya produced works such as The Parasol (1777), which meld the unlikely pairing of cheery Rococo aesthetics with the moody works of Diego Velázquez. 

The artist became the court painter of Charles III of Spain in 1786, and continued painting for the Spanish court until Napoleons invasion of Spain in 1808. During the Napoleonic wars, Goya’s palette significantly darkened as he produced some of his most famous works. Among these paintings are the The Second of May 1808 (1814) and The Third of May 1808 (1814), which show the terrors of war. Three years before he left his native country, Goya produced 14 paintings directly onto the plaster walls of his farmhouse. These works, collectively known as The Black Paintings (1821), depicted terrifying supernatural themes and heinous violence. 

Living in exile in Bordeaux, France, the artist died on April 16, 1828. His works went on to have a profound influence on both Édouard Manet and Pablo Picasso. Today, Goya’s works are held in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, the Prado Museum in Madrid, and the Louvre Museum in Paris, among others.


This is part 7 of a 10-part series on the works of Francisco de Goya.


1810-12 The Disasters of War:

Francisco de Goya responded to the Peninsular War (1808–11) by creating over 80 etchings critiquing the cruelty and senseless violence that accompanies war. In this print, he depicted a historical event: Augustina of Aragon heroically defending Saragossa, taking over the cannon of her fallen comrades. Because she had already become a woman of legendary status when this print was made, Goya did not show Augustina’s face. Due to the oppressive policies of King Ferdinand VII, these prints were not published until 1863.

(Note: I couldn't get Plates 20 & 21 to upload in the right order)


Plate 1. Sad Forebodings of What is Going to Happen
etching, burin, drypoint and burnishing on ivory wove paper
17.5 x 22 cm (plate)

Plate 2. Rightly or wrongly
etching, lavis, burin, drypoint, and burnishing on ivory wove paper 15.2 x 20.6 cm (plate)

Plate 3. The Same
etching, lavis, drypoint, burin, and burnishing on ivory wove paper 16 x 22 cm (plate)

Plate 4. The Women Give Courage
etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint, lavis on ivory wove paper 15.3 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 5. And they are like wild beasts
etching, burnished aquatint, and drypoint on ivory wove paper
15.5 x 20.8 cm (plate)

Plate 6. It Serves You Right
etching, aquatint, drypoint on ivory wove paper 14.3 x 21 cm (plate)

Plate 7. What Courage!
etching, aquatint, drypoint, burin, and burnishing on ivory wove paper 15.3 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 8. It Always Happens
etching and drypoint on ivory wove paper 17.5 x 21.7 cm (plate)

Plate 9. They Don’t Like it
etching, burnished aquatint, and drypoint on ivory wove paper
15.3 x 20.6 cm (plate)

Plate 10. Neither do these
etching and burin on ivory wove paper 14.8 x 21.6 cm (plate)

Plate 11. Nor do these
etching, lavis, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper
16 x 21 cm (plate)

Plate 12. This is What You Were Born For
etching, lavis, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper
15.9 x 23.5 cm (plate)

Plate 13. Bitter to be Present
etching, lavis, drypoint, burin, and burnishing on ivory wove paper 14.1 x 17 cm (plate)

Plate 14. It’s a hard step!
etching, burnished lavis, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper 14.2 x 16.7 cm (plate)

Plate 15. And there’s no help for it
etching, drypoint, burin, and burnishing on ivory wove paper
14 x 16.9 cm (plate)

Plate 16. They Make Use of Them
etching, lavis, drypoint, burin, and burnishing on ivory wove paper 16 x 23.4 cm (plate)

Plate 17. They Do Not Agree
etching, drypoint, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper
14.5 x 21.6 cm (plate)

Plate 18. Bury them and keep quiet
etching, burnished lavis, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper
16 x 23.5 cm (plate)

Plate 19. There isn’t Time Now
etching, lavis, drypoint, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper 16.5 x 23.5 cm (plate)

Plate 21. It will be the same
etching and burnished lavis 14.5 x 22 cm (plate)

Plate 20. Get them well, and on to the next
etching, lavis, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper
16 x 23.5 cm (plate)

Plate 22. Even Worse
 etching, lavis and burin on ivory wove pape 16 x 25 cm

Plate 23. The Same Elsewhere
etching, lavis, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper
16 x 23.9 cm (plate)

Plate 24. They Can Still be of Use
etching and burnishing on ivory wove paper 16 x 25.7 cm (plate)

Plate 25. These too
etching, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper
16 x 23.5 cm (plate)

Plate 26. One Can’t Look
etching, burnished lavis, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper 14.3 x 20.7 cm (plate)

Plate 27. Charity
etching, lavis, drypoint, burnishing and burin on ivory wove paper 16 x 23.4 cm (plate)

Plate 28. Rabble
etching, lavis, drypoint, burnishing and burin on ivory wove paper 17.5 x 2 cm (plate)

Plate 29. He deserved it
etching, drypoint, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper
17.5 x 21.5 cm (plate)

Plate 30. Ravages of war
etching, drypoint, burin, and burnishing on ivory wove paper
14 x 17 cm (plate)

Plate 31. That’s tough!
etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint on ivory wove paper
15.3 x 20.6 cm (plate)

Plate 32. Why?
etching, lavis, drypoint, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper 15.3 x 20.7 cm (plate)

Plate 33. What More Can Be Done?
etching, lavis, drypoint, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper 15.5 x 20.7 cm (plate)

Plate 34. On account of a knife
etching, drypoint, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper
15.5 x 20.7 cm (plate) 

Plate 35. One Can't Tell Why
 etching, burnished lavis, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper 15.4 x 20.9 cm (plate)

Plate 36. Not in this case
etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper 15.5 x 20.7 cm (plate)

Plate 37. This is Worse
etching, lavis and drypoint on ivory wove paper
15.5 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 38. Barbarians!
etching, burnished aquatint, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper 15.5 x 20.8 cm (plate)

Plate 39. A Heroic Feat! With Dead Men!
etching, lavis and drypoint on ivory wove paper
15.5 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 40. He gets something out of it
etching, drypoint and burin on ivory wove pape 17.5 x 22 cm (plate)


Plate 41. They Escape through the Flames
etching and burin on ivory wove paper 16 x 23.5 cm (plate)

Plate 42. Everything is topsy-turvy
etching, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper
 17.5 x 22 cm (plate)

Plate 43. This too
etching and burnished aquatint on ivory wove paper
 15.5 x 20.8 cm (plate)

Plate 44. I Saw it
etching, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper
 15.7 x 23.3 cm (plate)

Plate 45. And this too
etching, aquatint or lavis, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper 16.2 x 22 cm (plate)

Plate 46. This is Bad
 etching, burnished aquatint, lavis, drypoint, and burin on ivory wove paper 15.2 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 47. This is How it Happened
 etching, burnished aquatint, lavis, drypoint, and burin on ivory wove paper 15.2 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 48. Cruel tale of woe!
etching, burnished lavis and burin on ivory wove paper
15.3 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 49. A Woman’s Charity
 etching, lavis, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper
15.3 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 50. Unhappy Mother!
etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint on ivory wove paper
15.4 x 20.6 cm (plate)

Plate 51. Thanks to the Millet
etching and burnished aquatint on ivory wove paper
 15.3 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 52. They Do Not Arrive in Time
etching, lavis, drypoint and burin on ivory wove paper
15.5 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 53. There Was Nothing to be Done and He Died
etching, burnished aquatint, lavis and burin on ivory wove paper
15.2 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 54. Appeals are in vain
etching, lavis, burin and burnishing on ivory wove paper
15.5 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Plate 55. The Worst is to Beg
etching, lavis and burnishing on ivory wove paper 15.5 x 20.5 cm (plate)

Note: The Disasters of War continues in Part 8.

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