I roamed through the special Norton Simon section on Francisco de Goya y Lucientes. Goya's portrait of Don Pedro, Duque de Osuna painted in the period 1795 to 1800 is on loan from The Frick Collection, New York. This painting is placed along with about a half a dozen others from the Norton Simon by Goya or others of the period.
Goya was born in 1746 in Fuendetodos, Aragon, Spain and became the premier painter of the Spanish royalty. When I visited The Prado Museum in Madrid 50 years ago, they had many rooms filled with Goya's painting of the rich and famous in Spain. Then I was startled when I walked into the final rooms where there were Goya paintings in black showing nightmarish scenes. I understand he became deaf in 1793 from a serious illness and although he continued to get lucrative commissions to paint portraits, he also expressed his darker side.
After a war with France in the early 1800's, Goya isolated himself into a country house outside of Madrid and painted more of the "Black Paintings, reflective of the artist's fear of insanity...some painted onto the walls of his dining and sitting rooms." Eventually he left Spain after becoming threatened by the restored Spanish monarchy and lived in Bordeaux, France where he died of a stroke in 1828.
Below are some of the works at the Norton Simon:
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| Don Pedro, Duque de Osuna 1795-1800 |
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| Dona Francisca Vicenta Chollet y Caballero, 1806 |
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| St. Jerome in Penitence, 1798 |
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| Los Caprichos: self portrait 1799 etching |
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| "She Is Bashful About Undressing," 1796-97. Brushed India ink on paper |
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| Marin Mariano de Goicoecheo, 1805, brushed India ink on paper |
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| "Masquerades of Hold Week, " 1796-97 |
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