Goya

Francisco Goya (1746–1828) was born in Fuendetodos in Aragon and grew up in Zaragoza, where from the age of fourteen he studied under José Luzán. Twice refused by the academy in Madrid, he went to Rome at his own expense, and on his return in 1771 painted part of the cupolas of the Basilica of the Pillar in Zaragoza. He then studied with Francisco Bayeu, whose sister Josefa he married in 1773. In Madrid he designed Rococo tapestry cartoons for the royal factory and painted an altarpiece for San Francisco el Grande, which brought him membership of the Royal Academy. He became a court painter in 1786 and Prime Court Painter in 1799. An illness around 1793 left him deaf, and his work grew steadily darker: the Caprichos, The Third of May 1808, and the Black Paintings on the walls of his house, the Quinta del Sordo. He is often called the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. In 1824 he left Spain for Bordeaux, where he died. Here: Immaculate Conception.