Al toro y al aire darles calle (Make Way for Bulls and Wind), unpublished plate from Los Proverbios (The Proverbs)

Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes

c. 1824 (published 1877)

Etching, aquatint, and drypoint in sienna ink

Minneapolis Institute of Art

Francisco Goya (1746-1828) was an acclaimed 18th-century Spanish artist, internationally known for his remarkable achievements as both a painter and printmaker. Appointed painter to the Spanish court of Charles IV, Goya spent much of his career painting portraits for royalty and the nobility. Despite his official position with the court, his portraiture has been recognized as a form of history painting, at once subjective and subversive. Disillusioned by the excesses and brutality of the Spanish political and religious authorities, Goya turned against his patrons and produced daring condemnations of the regime and its supporters. He