Life and career
Goya worked for Spain’s royal court while also producing images that question human folly and violence. The Caprichos of 1799 used printmaking for a wider critical language. War and political repression reshaped his later world; in Bordeaux near the end of his life, lithography offered another field of experimentation.
Works across a career
Selected examples, not a complete catalogue. Read date ranges and attributions before inferring a career sequence.
- 01
1799
1799
When Day Breaks We Will Be Off, Plate 71
- Material / technique
- etching and aquatint
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Collection / source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
Museum catalogue note
Francisco de Goya used printmaking to explore subjects that stirred controversy when represented in more public media, such as oil painting. This print belongs to Los Caprichos, a series of enigmatic images that critique the hypocrisy and irrationality the artist observed throughout contemporary Spanish society. Here, a group of witches prepares to fly without broomsticks or sight, suggesting ignorance and obliviousness. The dense and starry sky behind them was created using layers of aquatint—a technique that Goya was among the earliest and most expert artists to adopt.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 - 02
1819
1819
Portrait of Don Juan Antonio Cuervo
- Material / technique
- oil on canvas
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Collection / source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
Museum catalogue note
This portrait both testifies to Goya’s friendship with Cuervo and presents the sitter as a cutting-edge intellectual. Director of the Royal Academy of San Fernando, the official academy for artists and architects in Spain, Cuervo appears with his plan for the recent renovation of Madrid’s Church of Santiago. The jacket with red and gold brocade identifies him as a member of the academy.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0 - 03
1824–25
1824–25
Woman Reading to Two Children
- Material / technique
- lithograph
- Attribution / role
- Museum attribution
- Collection / source
- The Cleveland Museum of Art
Museum catalogue note
Goya left Spain in 1824 to escape the repressive rule of King Ferdinand VII and settled in Bordeaux, France, where he met Gaulon, an expert lithographer. Working with him, Goya executed Woman Reading to Two Children, where he drew densely with a crayon and then scratched out fine highlights on the woman's arm, skirt, mantilla, and around her head. An onlooker described Goya's methods, "Usually he covered the whole stone with a uniform gray tone and then removed with the scraper those parts which were to appear light. . . . Next the crayon was again employed to strengthen the shadows, the accents." Goya's portrayal of the children's rapt attention and the tranquil figure of the young woman suggests that this charming domestic scene was observed by the artist in his own home. Goya was joined in Bordeaux by his companion Leocadia Weiss and her two younger children, Guillermo and María del Rosario. Only seven impressions of this lithograph are known, all of which are now in museum collections.
Collection text · The Cleveland Museum of Art · CC0
Compare materials, style and colour
Compare the tonal satire of the 1799 print with the 1819 oil portrait and the 1824–25 lithograph of reading. Etching and aquatint, layered oil and drawing on a lithographic matrix produce different textures and audiences. Check both design and printing dates: an impression made after his death is not a new late-life invention.
Material
What can this material do? Distinguish a design, an original object and a later impression or cast.
Style
Compare viewpoint, edges, composition and marks. Which choices persist, and which change?
Colour
Compare palette, contrast and light. Consider the support, printing, surface treatment and ageing.
Sources and further reading
Original educational interpretation; catalogue descriptions are separately credited. Each study links to its source. Reference entries without images are not added to the comparison timeline.