Francisco Goya: A Life

by Evan S. Connell

Book Overview

From the critically acclaimed and bestselling author of Son of the Morning Star and Deus Lo Volt , a biography that breaks the mold-recounting with stunning immediacy the dark genius behind the renowned Spanish painter. Enigmatic, compelling, darkly brilliant and casually masterful in turn, Francisco Goya changed art forever, although the nature of his influence has been widely interpreted. Degas, for one, lamented that because of Goya he was condemned...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1582433070
• ISBN13: 9781582433073
• Release Date: December 2003
• Publisher: Counterpoint LLC
• Length: 256 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.1" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

well-weaved story

This is an incredibly well-weaved story. True - more an account of the historical period than a biography, but not at all a drab writing stuffed with facts. Every fact is given with Goya in mind, every anecdote or a side-step is relevant in order for the reader to feel the air that Goya breathed, the interactions that would excite him. And very soon the magic happens - you feel yourself a Madrileño at the turn of the 18th century, you feel emotional about the political intrigues, and sentimental towards the years passing into chaos. One sees that Connell did his homework - the book smells of archival searches, but you are not overwhelmed by it: if more than one versions of an account exists, Connell presents them all, and very gently and wittily gives more weight to one over the others. True - there are no illustrations except for the jacket and a poorly reproduced portrait inside, but seeing Goya's paintings would have been distractive from submerging into thinking about the artist's life. When necessary, Connell gives visual descriptions of the paintings he describes, and the verbal pictures are so good, that they revive even the most distant memories of reproductions seen in art history books. I highly recommend this book, especially for artists.

Just the Facts Jack!

My God, how hard it was to finish this book. If I weren't a Goya fanatic, I would have probably tossed it within the first twenty pages. The thing is that if you are looking for a romantic novel speculating on Goya's feelings throughout his 60 prolific years, this is not the book for you. There are no speculations here, just an excruciating amount of facts. At some point I felt that every person alive during Goya's era had been mentioned on this book. Quite overwhelming! "Goya, A life", is not only about Goya's work, it's a book that discusses in detail Spanish history from the mid-eighteenth century to the early politically volatile nineteenth century. Evan Connell has paid great attention to the Napoleonic era, and heavily discussed the subsequent implications upon the fate of Spain. The language is concise, rich, and full of colorful adjectives clinging to the arduous subjects intimately discussed through the book. At some point Evan Connell takes some jabs at our current political situation, or international relations stereotyping this or that country. It is all done in good taste; therefore it brought a pleasant surprise, amidst the ocean of detailed information on every aspect of Goya's life, and age. Lastly, know your Goya for God's sake. Know every painting, etching, mural, portrait, or caricature that Goya ever painted. Do your research, as without it you will be lost. There are no illustrations in this book, so for every painting discussed you either have to draw from your memory or keep google.com within reach. I will only recommend this book to Goya fanatics. If you think as highly of Goya as I do, you should put yourself through the pain

A life of fire and shadows

Evan S. Connell's life of the painter Goya will be admired by everyone who has ever wondered about the man behind the "Old Master." Connell is one of our most accomplished novelists and the author of "Mr. Bridge" and "Mrs. Bridge" and here belies his years by writing like a very young man, filled with vim and vigor, on fire with the alacrity of his subject and the whole era of Goya as it spreads like a tapestry across Europe and beyond. Any man who's been caught with his pants down will appreciate what Goya did for the Duchess of Alba, his great love and the subject of his famous NAKED MAJA. In a way, this book has a lot of the same appeal of Irvine Stone's LUST FOR LIFE of fifty years ago, and readers with a taste for the picaresque, the ribald and the antiquated will be bellying up to the bar for more. Katharine Hepburn once said that if she could only make herself believe in reincarnation, she would like to have been Francisco Goya, and now we know why.

More than Goya

Evan S. Connell's biography of Francisco Goya is more than that--it is a vast canvas of Europe in the second half of the 18th & first half of the 19th centuries with Goya's Spain and Napoleonic France as protagonists. Each character is introduced with plenty of detail and local color. Goya's paitings and drawings reflect not only his subjects' lives and loves but also his own rich and tormented (r)evolutionary process, from Fuedetodos to Madrid to his last days in Bordeaux. As an artist of the people, he strived to portray the truth beyond mere faces and events and succeeded to both please royalty and alienate reactionary Spanish traditionalists. Connell weaves quotes from previous biographers and art critics into his entertaining narration. I enjoyed this book and recommend it to all readers who were ever intrigued by Goya's inscrutable originality.

An art history fan

Excellent book. Highly recommend it if you are a "true" Goya fan. The author has a wonderful writing style and he assumes the reader has some basic knowledge of Goya's life and 18-19th century Spain. That is where the enjoyment of this book begins. Buy it now!!!