Goya (1746-1828) is one of Spain s most famous artists and is widely acknowledged as an outstanding painter in the European tradition, often called the last of the Old Masters and the first of the Moderns. He is appreciated as a portrait painter; a creator of menacing and melancholy images in oils; a master of enigmatic, satirical and revolutionary drawing and etching; the champion of Spanish people in their struggle against oppression and the recorder of their life and sufferings in war. This book brings out many of Goya s moods, from the gaiety and tenderness of the tapestry cartoons to the mysterious ferocity of the Black Paintings made in his old age.