Goya

Robert Hughes first encountered Goya's work while a student in Australia. Looking at his etchings for the first time, he wondered what made it possible for an eighteenth-century Spanish artist to convey the essence of despair, loneliness, anxiety and loss to an adolescent two centuries and half a world away. Thus began a life-long process of discovery and analysis. In many ways a labour of love, Goya charts the Spanish master's career, describing his entire painted and graphic oeuvre within its historical context. Containing lively biographical sketches of Goya's patrons and insightful analysis of his recurring themes, Hughes' book examines Goya's fierce pacifism and his reputation within his lifetime and after his death.