The
Black Paintings are a series of fourteen paintings, originally exhibited in
Francisco Goya's home, Quinta del sordo. He executed them in oil on the plaster walls of his cottage, they were removed to the Prado Museum in Madrid in the late nineteenth century. Old age, deafness and enduring the hardships of the times he lived in... from his experiences as a painter of the perverted court of Spain's
King Charles IV, through the stormy Spanish politics after the
Napoleonic Wars. He exiled himself to a bleak two story cottage on the outskirts of
Madrid. Called
Quinta del sordo, meaning
"Country-house of the Deaf-Man" he painted these
shocking images of eerie imagery for decorative purposes
along the lines of tapestry.
Art historians have been left to title these works and have called them representative of the culmination of Goya's artistic efforts. Done in midnight colors, he created whole populations of subhuman monsters who worship the devil and swarm in nightmares.
The series of fourteen paintings may be viewed at
Mark Harden Artchives:
http://www.artchive.com/galleries/goya/view1.html