Goya

Goya y Lucientes, Francisco (1746-1829), a Spanish painter, born in the neighbourhood of Saragossa. He studied there, and at the age of 16 went to Madrid, where he distinguished himself by his wild life. He then went to Rome with a company of bull-fighters, and seems to have met with many vicissitudes of fortune. In 1775 he was back in Madrid, where he executed paintings for the royal tapestry factory. The king's painter took him up, and he was commissioned to execute some frescoes and other works. He was also successful as a portrait-painter, the Duke of Wellington being among his sitters; but his great forte was genre, and his paintings of bull-fights - a subject with which he was thoroughly acquainted - have been much admired.