After Francisco de Goya Lucientes (1746-1828) Spanish, Bullfighting Etching Print. Print of his etching series. Titled "Tauromaquia; Origen de los Arpones Ó Banderillas" (Origin of the Harpoons or Banderillas). Framed. Depicts the moment just before the killing of the bull, who looks very disinterested.
Overall Size: 15 3/8 x 19 3/4 in.
Sight Size: 9 1/4 x 13 5/8 in.
#2570.
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes was born March 30th, 1746 to a middle class family in Fuendetodos, Aragon, Spain. At the age of 14 he studied painting under José Luzán y Martinez and then moved to Madrid to study with Anton Raphael Mengs. He and his new master did not see eye to eye, and Goya left studies to submit for entry into the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 1763 and 1766, but was denied entrance both times. He moved to Rome where he painted on his own until 1771, developing his style and building inspiration. He married Josefa Bayeu in 1773, and of their seven children only one, a son named Javier, survived into adulthood. He had a severe and undiagnosed illness in 1793 that left him deaf, after which his work became progressively darker and more pessimistic. A series of Rococo tapestries and dramatic etchings earned him attention from the nobility, and he became an official court painter to the Spanish Crown in 1786. Due to his unique ability to capture the espíritu de la época as Spain went through many upheavals in the late 18th and early 19th Century, Goya is often referred to as the last of the Old Masters and the first of the Moderns. He was appointed Director of the Royal Academy in 1795, and in 1799 he became Primer Pintor de Cámara (Prime Court Painter), the highest rank for a Spanish court painter. In 1808, as Napoleon led the French army into the Peninsular War against Spain, Goya chose to remain in Madrid, and the sight of battle affected him deeply, along with the death of Josefa in 1812. His later paintings reflect his pain as he suffered numerous mental breakdowns and lifelong anxiety, like his Disasters of War prints and his etchings that portray insanity, mental asylums, witches, fantastical creatures, and political corruption. His late period culminated with the Black Paintings of 1819 to 1823, applied on oil on the plaster walls of his house Quinta del Sordo (House of the Deaf Man) where, disillusioned by political and social developments in Spain, he lived in near isolation. Goya eventually abandoned Spain in 1824 to retire to the French city of Bordeaux, accompanied by his much younger maid and companion, Leocadia Weiss. There he completed his La Tauromaquia series, one of his last works. Following a stroke that left him paralyzed on his right side, Goya died on April 16th, 1828, too paranoid and distraught to realize the enormous effect he had already had (and would continue to have) on the art world.
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