Francisco Goya

Francisco Jos de Goya y Lucientes was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of late 18th and early 19th centuries and throughout his long career was a commentator and chronicler of his era. Immensely successful in his lifetime, Goya is often referred to as both the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns.

He was born to a modest family in 1746 in the village of Fuendetodos in Aragon. He studied painting from ageunder Jos Luzn y Martinez and moved to Madrid to study with Anton Raphael Mengs. He married Josefa Bayeu in 1773 the couples life together was characterised by an almost constant series of pregnancies and miscarriages. He became a court painter to the Spanish Crown in 1786 and this early portion of his career is marked by portraits of the Spanish aristocracy and royalty, and Rococo style tapestry cartoons designed for the royal palace.

Source: Wikipedia