The greatest artist of the 18th century, Francisco de Goya began his career as an apprentice to a local artist where one of his jobs was adding draperies and modesty items to nude figures in religious paintings; for this he was titled “Reviser of Indecent Paintings.” But by the age of 40, Goya had established himself as a leading Spanish artist. Goya simultaneously pursued a number of disparate projects, commissions he received from prestigious churches and royalty, as well as producing several lengthy series of lithographs to express his dislike of several subjects, notably Spanish high society and war. Brushing into controversy on several occasions, Goya threaded the political needle of alternating French and Spanish rule of his home country of Spain as well as successfully navigated the choppy waters of the Spanish Inquisition when it questioned the morality of La Maja Desnuda, one of his most famous paintings.
