on canvas, 132.3 × 116.7 cm
Mellon Bruce collection, Washington
However, the son of humble parents and born far from the splendours of the court, Goya never became a courtier in spite of his official position. He painted not only members of the fashionable elite, but also artisans, labourers and the victims of poverty. He sympathized with the Spanish Enlightenment, whose members disagreed in principle with all that the court stood for.
Portrait of the Count of Floridablanca and Goya
1784
oil on canvas, 262 × 166 cm
Bank of Spain, Madrid
Disturbed by the social inequalities of the day, the Enlightenment felt that the monarchy, through blindness and neglect, had done little to bring Spain out of the Middle Ages. Goya became a proficient etcher and recorded his personal observations in this medium.
In these, and in the numerous drawings he made in private sketchbooks, he ridiculed the vulgarity and follies of humanity. His critical vision appears to have been intensified by the deafness with which he was inflicted after an infection in 1792.
The Family of the Infante Don Luis
1784
oil on canvas, 248 × 330 cm
Corte di Mamiano, Parma
The early years of the nineteenth century were disastrous for Spain. On 21 October 1805, the Spanish fleet was destroyed by the British at Trafalgar, cutting Spain off from its colonies. In 1806, Spain agreed to help Napoleon in the conquest of Portugal. Thousands of French troops poured into Spain. In 1808 King Charles IV abdicated in favour of his dim-witted son, Ferdinand VII, and the old king fled to Bayonne in France with Queen Maria Luisa and Manuel Godoy, his Prime Minister.
Countess-Duchess of Benavente
1785
oil on canvas, 104 × 80 cm
Bartolomé March Severa, Madrid
Napoleon invited Ferdinand to Bayonne and persuaded him to return the crown to his father, upon which Ferdinand was imprisoned. Charles then abdicated in favour of Napoleon and went to live in exile in Rome, leaving Napoleon free to place his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, on the Spanish throne, in June 1808. Napoleon had not expected resistance and was surprised when large numbers of Spanish patriots began to wage a merciless guerrilla war against the invader.
The Marquesa de Pontejos
1786
oil on canvas, 211 × 126 cm
National Gallery, Washington
For six years, Spain became a battlefield: six years of bloodshed, terror and suffering. Napoleonic power began to decline in 1812. The British army advanced on Spain. It won victory after victory until finally entering Madrid in August 1812 and ousting Joseph Bonaparte and the French army. The liberal Cortes of Cadiz, the Spanish parliament, sought the restoration of the monarchy, but in constitutional form and answerable to the government.
Spring (The Flowergirls)
1786–1787
oil on canvas, 177 × 192 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Ferdinand VII returned to Spain to popular acclaim but, in defiance of the Cortes, immediately instituted an autocratic regime and brought an end to the Enlightenment in Spain. He re-established the Inquisition, dissolved the Cortes and imprisoned many of its members as well as many of those who had supported the French government. Goya, who had accepted the post of painter to Joseph Bonaparte during the French occupation, was brought before the Inquisition and accused of collaboration.
Summer (Harvesting)
1786–1787
oil on canvas, 276 × 641 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
However, he was acquitted on the grounds of his claim that he had never worn his French medal and had painted Joseph from an engraving and not from life. Ferdinand had no great interest in art, but was happy to have a celebrated artist in his employ; Goya continued to receive an annual salary of 50,000 reales and somehow managed successfully to avoid having to fulfil his duties as court painter. He became increasingly withdrawn and the imagery evident in his work became more and more imaginative.
Autumn (The Vintage)
1786–1787
oil on canvas, 275 × 190 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
He had long been fascinated by insanity and superstition, and in his old age, on the walls of his own house, the Quinto del Sordo, he painted powerful, dark images, known collectively as the Black Paintings. In 1812 Josefa Goya died. The following year Goya’s housekeeper, Leocadia Weiss, a recently divorced mother of two, gave birth to a daughter, Maria del Rosario Weiss, who is generally assumed to be Goya’s child.
Winter (The Snow Tempest)
1786–1787
oil on canvas, 275 × 293 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
A liberal coup in Cadiz in 1820 forced Ferdinand to accept a constitutional monarchy and, for three years, the king was under the domination of a liberal government.
In 1823, the French king, Louis XVIII, sent troops to Spain and restored Ferdinand to absolute power. The king immediately took punitive action and once again brought a reign of terror which saw liberals imprisoned or shot.
Wounded Mason
1786–1787
oil on canvas, 268 × 110 cm
Museo del Prado, Madrid
Thoroughly disillusioned with Spain, Goya pleaded ill health and requested to go to Plombières to recover. Permission was granted and he made for Paris, where he saw the famous Salon. He then settled in Bordeaux, where some members of the Spanish Enlightenment were living in exile. In 1824, he was joined by Leocadia Weiss and her children.
