Day 63 - Francisco Goya

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746 – 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker who was has been called both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. As court painter to the for the Spanish royal court he was a commentator of his time chronicling the history and culture of Spain.  His style emphasized imaginative elements and focused on the dark and subversive side of human nature  His bold paint strokes was influential on later artists most notably Manet and Picasso.

A serious illness left Goya deaf between 1792 and early 1793, afterward he withdrew and became introspective cultivating experimental art that included paintings, drawings and a better series of aquatinted etchings titled Caprichos published in1799.  His aquatinting technique was sublime and he used it almost exclusively to portray some of the dimly lit scenes of the dark side of human nature.  Aquatinting is a way of uniformly laying down dots on the plate with powdered resin (we now use spray paint or wax sprayed on the surface of the plate), these dots are then etched with acid and create different shades of "grayscale" depending on how long the acid "bites" the plate - less time creates lighter shades, longer results in darker shades.  Of the subject matter of the series he said it emcompassed "...the innumerable foibles and follies to be found in any civilized society, and from the common prejudices and deceitful practices which custom, ignorance, or self-interest have made usual."

His later work became increasingly dark and he explored visions of demons, witches, witch trials, and war - the Peninsula war brought French soldiers that tore through Spain and the atrocities seemed to greatly effect him. 

Francisco Goya, Los Caprichos,
No. 32: Porque fue sensible, 1799

Francisco Goya, The Third of May 1808, 1814

References:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Goya
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Francisco_de_Goya_y_Lucientes_-_Los_fusilamientos_del_tres_de_mayo_-_1814.jpg 
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caprichos
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Porque_fue_sensible.jpg