Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain
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Goya married Josefa Bayeu, the sister of the artists Francisco and Ramon Bayeu. While he was in Madrid he started draft designs for tapestry. From 1774-1792 he worked for the mills and did sketches for several tapestries. It was in this period that he is noted for his works in folk life and countryside. He began with hunting and fishing scenes which were of French origin. At first they were clumsy and awkward in construction, but he soon mastered them with considerably more skill. He was not a landscape painter, and the background of his paintings show how little he was interested in painting landscapes. After he had settled in Madrid he began to paint portraits, the oldest copy known is dated 1774. He continued to do tapestries and in 1778 alone he did 14, despite a serious illness. In a statement years later, Goya said that Velasquez, Rembrandt and nature had been his masters. |
