Biographical and pictorial
chronology of Goya

30.5.1746. Goya is born in the Aragonese village of Fuendetodos. Son of Jose de Goya, master gilder and Gracia Lucientes, residents of the province of Zaragoza.
1751-1759. Studies in the Colegio de las Escuelas Pias in Zaragoza with his fellow pupil and close friend Martin Zapater.
1759-1763. Apprentice to the painter and professor José Luzan in his workshop and in the Academy of Design in Zaragoza.
1762-1763. Paints the doors of the reliquary in the sacristy of the Fuendetodos church.
Dec. 1763. Enters the painting competition (3rd class) held by the Royal Academia de Bellas Artes in Madrid.
July 1766. Enters the painting competition (1st class) of the Real Academia de San Fernando, which is won by Ramon Bayeu. Goya does not obtain a single vote.
1770-1771. Journeys to and stays in Italy at his own expense.
April 1771. Participates in painting competition held by the Academy of Parma ("Hannibal the Conqueror contemplates Italy for the first time from the Alps").
1772. Paints the fresco The Glory or the Adoration of the Name of God on the dome of the coreto (little choir) of the Virgin in the Basilica del Pilar in Zaragoza.
25.7.1773. Marries Josefa Bayeu in Madrid. The couple live in Zaragoza.
1772-1774. Executes a life cycle of the Virgin in oils on the interior of the church of the Carthusian monastery Aula Dei.
3.1.1775. Moves to Madrid in response to calls from his brother-in-law Francisco Bayeu and Mengs, First Court Painter to Charles III. Works as tapestry cartoon painter for the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Barbara.
1777. Paints the tapestry sketch The Parasol.
1778. First etchings made after the works of Velazquez.
1778. Tapestry sketch The Crockery Vendor.
5.7.1780. Named Academic of Merit by the Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando de Madrid as a result of his work Christ Crucified.
Oct. 1780. Goes to Zaragoza to work in the Cathedral del Pilar with Francisco and Ramón Bayeu. Goya paints the Regina Martyrum on the cupola next to the chapel of San Juan.
11.2.1781. Continues to work on the dome. However, he has strong disagreements with Francisco Bayeu, the person ultimately responsible for the pictorial decoration of the Holy Chapel.
Mar-May.1781. Strong criticisms of his style of painting. Has to make new sketches for the pendentives of the dome. He feels ill-treated and misunderstood.The mediation of P. Salcedo, prior of Aula Dei, is necessary to put an end to the acrimonious disagreements between Goya and his brother-in-law on the one hand, and the Junta de Fabrica del Pilar on the other.
28.5.1781. Goya finishes painting the Regina Martyrum. Leaves for Madrid on the 30th full of bitterness about the lack of understanding of his work and the criticism he has received.
July 1781. Charles III commissions Goya to paint one of the altarpieces for the church of San Francisco el Grande (Madrid). He paints San Bernardino de Siena preaching in the presence of King Alfonso V of Aragon. Painted between 1782 and 1783.
17.12.1781. Goya's father, Jose de Goya, dies in Zaragoza.
1783. Paints a portrait of the Secretary of State, the Count of Floridablanca (Banco de España) and includes a self portrait in the painting.
1784. Paints a portrait of the family of the Infante don Luis de Bourbon (Fundicion Magnani-Rocca, Parma). Starts to triumph as a portrait painter.
2.12.1784. Francisco Javier is born, the only child of Goya's to reach adulthood and to outlive his father.
1.5.1785. Goya is given the post of Teniente-director of painting at the RoyalAcademy of San Fernando.
1785. He paints a portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Osuna.
25.6.1786. Goya is given the post of painter to the King, with an annual income of 15,000 reales. Recommences his work with the Royal Factory of Tapestries.
1786. Goya is reconciled with Francisco Bayeu, whose portrait he paints.
1787. Goya paints seven rural compositions for the country house at Alameda, owned by the Duke and Dutchess of Osuna.
12.4.1787. Charles III commissions Goya to paint three altarpieces for the church of the monastery of the Cistercian nuns of Santa Ana (Valladolid). They are already in place when the church is blessed on 1st October.
1786-1787. Goya paints the tapestry cartoons for The Flower-Girls, Harvesting, Grape-Harvest and the Snow-Storm (Prado) for tapestries which were to be made for the Palacio del Pardo
1788. He paints the tapestry cartoons The Meadow of SaintIsidro and Blind Man's Buff (Prado) for El Pardo
25.4.1789. Named as Court Painter by the new king, Charles the IV. Official portraits of the King's officials and of Queen Maria Luisa.
22.10.1790. The Real Sociedad Economia Aragonesa de Amigos del Pais name him as a member of merit.
1790. Goya paints portraits of his Zaragoza friends Martin Zapater and Juan Martin de Goicoechea.
1791-1792. He paints his final cartoons for tapestries: The Wedding and The Straw Mannikin .
1791. Goya paints the portrait of the worthy Zaragoza canon, Ramon de Pignatelli and of the child Luis Maria de Cistue y Martinez (the boy in blue), son of the Baron de la Menglana.
Oct. 1792. Without royal permission Goya takes a trip to Andalusia. In December he falls ill in Seville and goes to Cadiz. The illness (saturnism) is grave and he does not recover until April 1793. A consequence of the illness is deafness.
Nov. 1792. In Cadiz he paints a portrait of his friend Sebastian Martinez (Metropolitan Museum of New York).
1793-1794. Prepares series of cabinet paintings in order to escape to a place "where caprice and invention have no limits", with bullfighting and comic scenes. Others include sinister works such as The Shipwrecked or the bizarre, such as Yard with Lunatics.
1794. Portrait of General Ricardos (Prado).
1795. Portraits of the Duke (Prado) and Duchess of Alba (private collection: Duques de Alba, Madrid)
4.10.1795. Gains the position of Director of Painting at the Academy of San Fernando, the post had been occupied by Francisco Bayeu until his death on 4th August.
1796-1797. Long stays in Andalusia with the Duchess of Alba. Does a lot of drawing (Album A de Sanlucar).
1.4.1797. After his return to Madrid, he resigns as Director of Painting at the Academy.
1797. Paints witchcraft scenes for the Osuna family, amongst others The Aquelarre and Witches.
1797. Goya starts the series of etchings that are later to be called The Caprichos.
1797. Second portrait of Martin Zapater and another of his friend, the jurist and Enlightenment writer Juan Melendez Valdes.
1.8.1798. Goya begins the fresco of the dome in the hermitage of San Antonio de la Florida (Madrid) with a rendering of the Miracle of Saint Anthony of Padua. He completes the work in 120 days.
1798. Portraits of the Minister of Justice and friend Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (Prado) and the French Ambassador Ferdinand Guillemardet (Louvre).
Feb. 1799. Goya puts the Caprichos on sale in a perfume shop below his residence in calle del Desengano 1 (Madrid). Not long after, he withdraws them from sale.
1799. Portrait of the actress Maria Rosario Fernandez, La Tirana (Academia de San Fernando, Madrid).
31.10.1799. Awarded the position of First Court Painter with an annual income of 50,000 reales, plus 500 ducados for a carriage. ).
1800. Three altarpieces for the church of San Fernando de Torrero (Zaragoza). Portrait of the Countess of Chinchon, daughters of the Infantes Luis and Teresa, and Godoy's wife.
1800-1801. Portrait of the family of Charles the IV (Prado).
1803. Portrait of the Count of Fernan Nuñez.
1804. Portraits of the Marquis of San Adrian (Museum of Navarre) and Bartoleme Sureda (1804-1806) (National Gallery, Washington).
8.7.1805. Goya's son Javier marries Gumersinda Goicoechea. Goya paints their portraits.
11.7.1806. Marianito is born, Goya's only grandson.
1808. The War of Independence (1808-1814). In October Goya goes to Zaragoza, in response to a request by General José de Palafox to paint the ruins and episodes from the defence of the city against the French.
23.12.1809. Goya swears fealty to the new king, Joseph Bonaparte I.
1810. Goya starts to prepare the Disasters of War (1810-1820).
11.11.1811. Joseph I awards Goya the Orden Real de Espana, contemptuously called "the Order of the Aubergine".
20.6.1812. Goya's wife, Josefa Bayeu, dies.
1814. Goya paints The Second of May, also known as The Charge of The Mamelukes, and The Third of May (Prado), so as to maintain Spanish popular resistance to Napoleon.
4.11.1814. The process of Goya's "purification" begins, in which several witnesses declare that he was not in favour of the Bonaparte regime.
Dec. 1814. He finishes the equestrian portrait of General Palafox (Prado).
1815. The Inquisition, who regard the two Majas as obscene, level charges against Goya. After the case, the post of First Painter of the Court is restored to him, although Fernando VII reduces his official staus. Goya starts on the Disparates (1815-1824), which are published in 1864. He paints portraits of Fernando VII and the Duke of San Carlos for the Canal Imperial de Aragon (Museo de Zaragoza).
1816. He publishes a series of engravings on bullfighting (1815-1816).
1819. Goya paints the Last Communion of Saint Joseph of Calasanz, (the old Colegio Calasanz, Madrid). He buys the country house, the Quinta del Sordo and lives there in isolation.
1820. He finishes the Disasters of War (1810-1820).
1820-1823. The Black Paintings in the Quinta del Sordo (Prado)
2.5.1824. He asks leave of the king to go to France to take the waters at the spa at Plombieres. He leaves in June with Leocadia Zorrilla and her children.
Sept. 1824. He settles down in Bordeaux. In November he asks for a six month extension of his leave.
21.6.1825. For reasons of health he asks for a further extension of one year. He prepares a series of lithographs, the Bulls of Bordeaux.
May.1826. He returns to Spain to ask for his pension. This he is given, along with an income of 50,000 reales. In June he is given leave to return to Bordeaux.
1827. In the summer he makes a brief trip to Madrid to deal with family and financial matters. He returns to Bordeaux. He paints The Milkmaid of Bordeaux (Prado) and paints a portrait of Juan Bautista de Muguiro (Prado).
16.4.1828. Goya dies early in the morning in Bordeaux, after a brief illness. The following day he is buried in the cemetery of La Chartreuse.

By Arturo Ansón


[ LIFE | Chronology | Character | Education | Family |
Friends | Ideology | Social class | Correspondence ]
[ Home | Life | Work | Age | In Aragón | Catalog | Library | Site map ]

InfoGoya 96 is an initiative of the University of Zaragoza, sponsored by the Institution Fernando el Católico of the Deputation of Zaragoza on an Apple Internet Server donated by Apple Computer.

© 1996 InfoGoya.