Goya: A Man of His Time

Francisco Goya - Francisca Sabasa y Garcia - 1804-08 - Oil on canvas, 71 x 58 cm - National Gallery of Art, Washington (click photo for larger image)Spanish painter Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was the most powerful and original European artist of his time. But his genius was slow in maturing and he was well into his thirties before he began producing work that set him apart from his contemporaries. His paintings, drawings, and engravings reflected contemporary historical upheavals and influenced important 19th- and 20th-century painters. His work continues to be studied in the 21st century.

Women occupy a central place within Goya's oeuvre, and his images of majas (the stylish and outlandish members of Spain's lower classes in the 18th and 19th centuries), witches, and queens are some of his most daring and modern interpretations, depicting women in possession of their own powers, whether political or sexual.

In the work featured here, the sitter is about 20 years old and is profiting from the emancipation of women cautiously proceeding in Goya's day. Her face is no longer concealed by a veil, and she looks self-confidently out at the viewer.

“Fantasy, abandoned by reason, produces impossible monsters; united with it, she is the mother of the arts and the origin of marvels.” — Goya