Goya began his career in Saragossa then found a place in Madrid in 1774 as a royal tapestry cartoonist. Though he was named Assistant-Director of Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando in 1785, and official court painter to the crown a year later, an illness in 1792 left him deaf. The unknown disease marks the change in his personal work from traditional, influenced by other Spanish court painters like the Baroque artist Diego Velasquez (1599-1660), to the Romantic perspective. His first series of prints Los Caprichos (1790s) represents his early work as a Romantic artist, though the style in his paintings for the crown did not noticeably change. After the French occupation and subsequent Inquisition revival under the new Spanish king, Goya not only worked on his Desastres de la Guerra series, but also his most famous Black Paintings depicting fictional stories and legends in an extremely grotesque manner.
After his life as a court painter, under both Spanish crowns and French occupation, he obtained leave from Spain and moved to Bordeaux, France where he died at age 78. To this day, Goya's most famed works come from Los Caprichos and Black Paintings due to their intensity and creativity.
After his life as a court painter, under both Spanish crowns and French occupation, he obtained leave from Spain and moved to Bordeaux, France where he died at age 78. To this day, Goya's most famed works come from Los Caprichos and Black Paintings due to their intensity and creativity.