Francisco de Goya

Francisco de Goya painted courtly portraits, tapestry designs and scenes of war and nightmare, and his range is extraordinary. He is often called the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns.

He was born in Fuendetodos, Aragon, in 1746, trained in Zaragoza and Madrid and travelled to Italy. He became painter to the Spanish court and painted Charles III, Charles IV and much of the nobility. After serious illness left him deaf in the 1790s, his work grew darker, with The Third of May 1808, the print series The Disasters of War and the Black Paintings on the walls of his house. He died in Bordeaux in 1828. The Prado in Madrid holds his greatest works.

Blind Man Playing the Guitar is one of his lively early tapestry designs.