De Goya

De Goya was a Spanish romantic painter who gained recognition by painting portraits. However he was known for painting people realistically, without flattery as other artists and painters were wont to do at the time. Goya became the court painter to the Spanish Crown and remained so throughout the Peninsula War, staying in Madrid where he painted a portrait of Joseph Bonaparte (right).











Most recognisably he painted the series 'The Black Paintings', which were named and collected posthumously and featured some of my favourite works such as Saturn Devouring his Son and Two Old Men. One of the main reasons I love his work is because of the way his paintings are so dark and grim; even his portraits use dark colours.

Saturn Devouring his Son- image credit to wikipedia.org

However what I think really sets the Black Paintings apart from his other works is the way he uses the paint- his portraits were very lifelike and smooth, whereas the Black Paintings were very loose and rough, with huge brushstrokes and loads of texture.

Goya painted the Black Paintings in the midst of mental illness, and he painted them directly onto the walls in his house after the Napoleonic Wars. This meant they were on massive 'canvases' and I think it's really awesome that he painted them so big inside his home.

image credit to wikipedia.org

This is the painting Two Old Men. As you can see it's painted in the same rough style as Saturn Devouring his Son, with similar colours and a dark background with the subjects popping out of the image.

I think this is an effective way of drawing attention to the point of the painting and is a really good way to show gruesome and harsh figures.