It was March 1746 when Francisco de Goya was born in northeastern Spain. During his career, he spent most of his time painting and printmaking and is considered a romantic artist at a time where art was evolving. Early in his career he worked for Spanish royalty, painting personally for royal family members then later painting for the courts. After a French invasion that ultimately resulted in the five year Peninsula War, he continued his work with both French and restored Spanish royalty. However, during that time, he began focusing on artwork that represented his personal experiences and a new form of expression. It was his Desastres de la Guerra, or The Disasters of War, where his artwork truly began to portray his personal emotions. Then after isolating himself and suffering from deafness, he continued his career with different chronicles of paintings and prints until his death in 1828.
	It was around the early 1780s when de Goya was commissioned to work for the Crown and its royal family. Later that decade, he was appointed by King Charles IV as First Court Painter, where he witnessed the political battles being waged upon the citizens of Spain. Throughout his years of portraying the family, de Goya began to put subliminal twists within his paintings to relay hidden messages. Critics believe these insertions were meant to portray de Goya’s political beliefs and discomfort with the Crown. These critics often refer to de Goya’s portrait Charles IV of Spain and His Family (1800) to epitomize what de Goya was attempting to illustrate. In the painting de Goya puts himself hidden within the shadows behind the royal family while they present themselves to the public. In the painting de Goya looks directly towards the viewer. He also places the king’s wife, Luisa, in the center of the painting, which represents a belief that she was in control of the royal family. It was in 1793 when de Goya suffered from an unknown illness that lead him to become deaf. It was then when he became more withdrawn while he focused on more personal collections, such as Caprichos, a series of prints that represented de Goya’s distaste with Spanish society and humanity’s foolishness. It was the beginning of a darker era for de Goya, which would only escalate as humanity continued to shed its image of pain and horror upon the artist.
	In 1808 French forces invaded Spain and began the Peninsula War. Francisco de Goya found himself neutral throughout the war, being commissioned to paint by both French patrons and the remaining Spanish royalty. However, near the end of the war, de Goya’s wife Josefa died, driving de Goya into a world of fear and madness. It was then when he began to portray his views on the current war and painted some of his most famous paintings, such as The Charge of the Mamelukes and The Third of May 1808. He followed the paintings with a series of prints known as The Disasters of War. This series of paintings and prints grasped de Goya’s true sense of darkness and hopelessness, and was a transitioning point of the artist’s dark and sadistic career.
