Goya y Lucientes, Francisco José de

The Black Paintings (c. 1820, Prado) scenes of witchcraft and other bizarre activities, are among the most outstanding works of the artist's late years. They were originally painted in fresco on the walls of Goya's country house and are now transferred to canvas. Painted predominantly in blacks, browns, and greys, they attest to his progressively darkening mood, possibly aggravated by an oppressive political situation in Spain that forced him to leave for France in 1824. In Bordeaux he took up the then new art of lithography, producing a series of bullfight scenes, considered among the finest lithographs ever made. Although he returned to Madrid for a brief visit in 1826, he died in self-imposed exile in Bordeaux two years later, on April 16, 1828. Goya left no immediate followers of consequence, but his influence was strongly felt in mid-19th-century painting and printmaking and in 20th-century art.

See also Prints and Printmaking.