Research and Describe Goyas Influences on Romanticism (Essay Sample)

Goya’s influences on romanticism
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Francisco Jose de Goya y Lucientes was a Spaniard born on March 30, 1746. Before his death on April 16, 1828, he had managed to create a name for himself that has lasted through the centuries. He was vastly regarded as a printmaker and romantic painter. Although many Spanish artists lived during his time, Goya became the most important artist. Goya’s life was associated with immense success and his works created a great influence on both the old and modern artists.
He was born to a humble family in the village of Fuendetodos located in Aragon. Goya began his painting career at the age of 14 under the tutorship of Jose Luzan y Martinez. He operated at Luzan’s workshop as a copier of stamps for four years. He later decided to operate on his own. He then moved to Madrid where he studied with Anton Raphael Mengs. Mengs was a popular painter known for his Spanish royalty. His studies produced unsatisfactory results because Goya clashed with his master. Between 1763 and 1766, Goya attempted to submit entry applications for the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, but his request was turned down. After the failure, he moved to Rome where he recorded his first success as a painter (Dowling 449).
In 1771, Goya won the second price after participating in a painting competition, which had been organized in the City of Parma. That year, he returned to Saragossa where he painted some areas of the cupolas of the Basilica of the Pillar, the Frescoes of the Sobradiel Palace, and the cycle of frescoes. It was during his studies with Francisco Bayeu y Subias that his painting style began to depict signs of entireties for which he later became famous. It was then that Goya begun to forge a new path, which distinguished him from other artists of his time. It was the birth of a new style, which differentiated his romantic style from that of the other artists.
The history of romanticism is thought to have begun with Adam Elsheimer and Claude Lorrain who died during the 1600s. However, the new style of romanticism did not gain popularity until the 18th century when its heroic element, with the help of the Neoclassicism culture, became embraced in painting. The heroic element was integrated with the revolutionary idealism to create an emotive romantic style that emerged during the start of French Revolution as rebellious move against the controlled academic art within the societal system. The principles of romanticism included a return to nature, a belief in the goodness of humanity, strong belief in emotions and sense, and promotion of justice for all (Alford 482). Ideally, it was an object-oriented undertaking that sought to make the society better through artistic influence. Romantic sculptors and painters used their art creations to express their personal, emotional response to live. The approach depicted a sharp contrast with the principles of universal values and restraint that had been adopted under the neoclassical art.
Some of the greatest romantic painters included Francisco Goya, Henry Fuseli, Caspar David Friedrich, JMV Turner, John Constable, Theodore Gericault, and Eugene Delacroix (Ciofalo 421). The rise of romanticism did not replace neoclassical art, but rather, it created a counterbalance. Although the use of Romanticism declined during the 1830s, its influence continued throughout the years.
A widespread adoption of the concept of romanticism was witnessed during the French Revolution in 1789. During that time, the society experienced a notable social change that took place within a single generation. Strong political crises, wars, and revolutions shook the entire Europe. During the Congress of Vienna in 1815, the leaders discovered that the peoples’ desire for “liberty, equality, and fraternity” had not been considered (Dowling 450). During the course of time, agitated citizens had formulated new attitudes and ideas towards their leaders and societal systems.
The central elements in the neoclassical painting, that is, respect for the responsible human being and the individual had given birth to a new idea. Emotional intuition emerged as people confronted that rational neoclassicism via individual imagination and emotions. Instead of praising the intellectual discipline and stoicism as required by the neoclassicism principles, artists took a new path where they celebrated the perception and emotional intuition of an individual. Therefore, during the beginning of the 19th century, Europe witnessed the introduction of new artistic styles, all of which were associated with romanticism (Glendinning 465).
The Romantic Movement began in Germany. It was motivated by a yearning for nature, feeling of isolation, and a sense of weariness of the world. The romantic tendencies appeared in the German, Spanish, French, and English painting. The Romantic Movement championed for creative imagination and intuition as the basis of all art. Art was used as a tool for expression of the voice within. The most preferred genre among the romantic painters was landscape painting. The genre was manifest in many of the famous styles, which were seen in the Vanitas painting, baroque art, and Biedermeier style (Baldwin 33).
Francisco de Goya was an undeniable leader of the Spanish Romantic Art Movement. He demonstrated a natural flair because of his works of fantasy, imagination, irrationality, and terror. Despite the fact that there were many other artists in Europe during his time, his input stood out because of its uniqueness. He became extremely important in the emergence of the modern aesthetic sensibility. He was considered as the forerunner of romanticism because of his in-depth exploration of reality, content of his paintings, reference to the dream world, and originality associated with his technique. His work characterized an imaginative, personal vision that contradicted the views of the conventional subjects and traditional academicians.
During his career development, he made a mark when he got a job as a painter to design materials for the Royal Tapestry Factory in 1765. Within five years, Goya had designed 42 patterns, some of which were used to decorate the Palacio Real del Pardo, stonewalls of the El Escorial, and the residence of the Spanish Monarchs. The opportunity played an instrumental role in bringing his artistic talent to the limelight. The Spanish Monarchs noted his great skill and talent and gave him access to the royal court. The chance became a stepping-stone to his fame and favor among the royal community.
In 1783, Goya received a commission from the Count of Florida Blanca to paint his portrait. He also managed to create friendship with the Crown Prince Don Luis whom he painted portraits for his family. During the 1780s, his circle of royal friends grew to include the king, the duke and Duchess of Osuna, and other prominent people in the Kingdom. By 1786, Goya secured a salaried job as a painter to King Charles III. After the death of King Charles III, Charles IV began to reign. It was during that time that the revolution in France begun in 1789 and Goya used the opportunity to rise to the peak of his popularity.
He became the court painter to the king in 1789. In 1799, he got a salaried job as the First Court Painter. It was during that time when he produced paintings of the king, queen, pictures of the royal family, and painting of the Prince of Peace among other paintings. The influence of his paintings could be seen in the manner in which paintings of the royal family were created. His portraits contained an element associated with an inclination to flatter. For instance, the portrait of Charles IV of Spain and His Family has always been considered as a satire. Modern interpreters noted the lack of visual diplomacy in the portrait (Baldwin 31). The painting was believed to have been strategically created to reveal the corrupt leadership under Charles IV. During his reign, people believed that his wife, Louisa, had real power.
The power attached to her might have been the main reason Goya placed her at the center of the family portrait. Inside the family portrait was a painting of Lot and his daughters. The inclusion of the story might have been used to stress the underlying theme of corruption and moral decadence. Goya also received numerous orders from the Spanish nobility to create paintings. A significant change in his painting style came during the period of convalescence between 1793 and 1794 when he managed to create eleven small pictures that were painted on a tin. The work became widely known as fantasy and invention.
Goya often described himself as a student of Rembrandt, Velazquez, and nature. From Rembrandt, he acquired the skill predilection for dark and enigmatic background setting. From Velazquez, he learned how to introduce a feeling of softly shaded color. From nature, he learned to integrate a variety of forms, both beautiful and ugly. He was a keen observer of the society and he recorded the country’s moral and political crisis towards the end of the 18th century.
His influence flawed to the postmodern society because he was a liberal minded man. His works were full of meaning and portrayal of the society during the 18th century and parts of the 19th century. He was a man of enlightenment whose social cycle comprised of progressive intellectuals (Glendinning 471). His work touched on almost every aspect of life, including the imaginary world, religious life, politics, social life, war, and witchcraft. He highlighted various elements of the society that included ignorance, superstition, and bigotry of religious hypocrites, cruelty, mercilessness, injustices, witchcraft, and intellectualism.
He was superiorly creative, crafty, imaginative, and determ...