Pablo Picasso and Francisco de Goya were both prolific artists of their times, offering works of great visual travesty of the glories of warfare and bloody victory. Goya was a lifelong rebel. A libertarian opposed to all sorts of tyranny, the Spanish artist began as a semi-Rococo designer for tapestries. Then he became painter to Charles IV of Spain, whose court was known for corruption and repression. Goya’s observations of the inhumane royal court and the prejudices of the church turned him into a bitter recluse satirist, is the use of irony, humor, ridicule, sarcasm and exaggeration to criticize or show the stupidity or vices of people, particularly in the context of politics and other newsworthy issues. Goya Sought to expose the evil side of man in the court painting, “Family of Charles IV.” Decorated in metals of honor, the king’s face was painted to resemble a pig, while queen pose and expression at a glance reads aloof. Standing to the queen’s left are family members with facial expressions that are quite the opposite from standoffish, but rather animalistic. The Spanish monarch was so vain and obtuse they failed to notice that their court painter had portrayed his subjects with unworthiness and dehumanized. The painting was a homage to Spanish Baroque painter, Diego Velazquez’s “Las Meninas;” like Velazquez, he placed himself on the left …show more content…
His mastery in the realm of graphic arts was on full display in, “The Disasters of War” from 1810-14. The sixty-five etchings consist of horrific narratives of actual events committed by both the French and Spanish armies during the invasion of Spain. Goya created images that touched on the grotesque and disasters such as war. He reduces scenes of monstrous acts to bold visual simplicity. His observation at human cruelty was fearless: castrations, dismemberments, beheaded civilians impaled on trees, dehumanized soldiers, staring coldly at hanged