Napoleon’s involvement in art
Francisco de Goya was born on March 30, 1746 in Fuendetodos, in Zaragoza province, Spain and died on April 16, 1828, in France.
Painter and recorder, he is one of the most important personalities in the world of European art because he has had an important impact on the evolution of painting, since his last works can be considered precursors of impressionism. During his first stage he focused on religious painting, genre that he practiced his entire artistic career. Since 1774 and moved to Madrid, where he became a painter of the Royal Court, under the direction of Francisco Bayeu, a well -known name in the art world. He will later marry his Josefa Bayeu’s sister. While drawing for the royal court, he becomes famous for his portraits and this attracts the king’s attention because he became his painter. However, he was not working only for the royal family, but also with the Madrid aristocracy, as can be seen in his works entitled The Countess of Chinchón or La Maja dressed and the naked morning. In 1792, Goya was completely deaf after suffering an unknown disease. His style also changed a little. In the years prior to the French invasion, he begins to draw and here we can name the most acclaimed critical critical series of him, the whims, 80 works that represent a painful criticism for Spanish society and religion of his time. Goya also used his moments of artistic registration of the country’s history. Then France, led by Napoleon Bonaparte, invaded Spain in 1881, Goya created a series of engravings that represent the violence of war. In 1824, Goya requested permission to go to France for health reasons. Goya moved to Bordeaux, France, where he spent the rest of his life. During this time, he continued painting.
Goya had the opportunity to leave behind his birth of birth more than one occasion. He as a young man left Spain to study art in Italy, but when he learned those ‘lessons’ from the great artists of El Renaádimiento, he did not stay in the Italian Peninsula. Instead, he returned to Spain, where he would remain for almost his entire life. Much of the artistic work created by Francisco Goya would capture the soul of Spain. He is there, in every turn of Spanish culture during his life, capturing so much of the spirit and time of a place in his art. He painted endless Spanish personalities: kings, queens, counts, ambassadors. Goya is also there to paint great religious works that represent the nature and character of Spanish Catholicism. He is there, also, painting Spanish life embodied in common people, including all, from a matador to a breast or a fighter for freedom. Goya always defines himself better, not as a modern painter, but as a Spanish painter, one who takes patriotic pride in his home and his people.
When Napoleon’s troops were finally expelled in 1814 and the new liberal government was installed, Goya sought the opportunity to record the incidents that marked the beginning of those violent years of conflict. Goya produced two great paintings that commemorate the brutal events of May 2 and May 3, 1808; Painted six years after they took place, Goya presents us a deeply personal interpretation of what happened. Goya’s paintings would become iconic symbols of French brutality against Spanish people and would serve as two of the largest propaganda paintings in Spain. Goya would not put the two works of him in a typical military scenario of two European armies that faced themselves in a chaotic battlefield of the war. On the other hand, his paintings focus on the heroism of the average, Spanish civil who voluntarily rose and suddenly against the French.
Leave feedback