When Francisco Goya’s work changed drastically from conventional portraits to dark and grotesque subjects, it was probably the result of lead poisoning.
Through his mid-forties, Francisco Goya was not only a court painter but also well known for his tame and innocuous subjects. But all that changed when he was forty-six. In 1792 he contracted a strange and mysterious illness that left him incapacitated.
His vision went blurry, he suffered from coma and partial paralysis, and he struggled with bouts of dizziness and hearing loss. Most important to his artwork, however, was a sudden onset of paranoia and hallucinations.
The sickness had a dramatic effect on his paintings. His images turned from light and airy to dark and tortured. His nightmarish scenes stirred up great controversy.
He recovered with time, but what caused this weird illness? Many historians agree that, because he was one of the artists who mixed all of his own paints, he probably developed a very serious case of lead poisoning (and possibly poisoning by other ingredients as well).
Most artists of the time mixed their own pigments using lead, cadmium, mercury, and other deadly substances. Goya, in particular, was known for his messy way of painting, with brush, trowel, rag, and hands furiously moving as he mixed and worked, likely absorbing the toxins through his lungs, mouth, and skin.
Throughout the rest of his career, Goya would repeatedly suffer bouts of the same mysterious sickness. When he fell ill, he was forced to quit working.
That fact might have saved his life, because his layoffs would’ve allowed the lead levels in his blood to drop, at least until he felt good enough to start working again, starting the cycle all over again.
Some art historians say the poisoning may have actually helped his career considerably.
He developed a reputation that would follow him long after his death, a gift that his earlier, more subdued paintings would never have given him.
Related Posts
-
Where does the word “Grotesque” come from and What does Grotesque mean in Italian?
Paintings discovered on the walls of the Baths of Titus, excavated by archaeologists in the sixteenth century, gave us our word "antic" through the Italian antica, "antique." But, though the learned world thus…
-
What Is Dark Matter, Where Does Dark Matter Come From, and What Is Dark Matter Made Of?
At least 90 percent, or the bulk of matter in the universe, making up its mass, is a mystery. We don't know what it is, and not all scientists believe that dark matter…
-
What Is Dark Matter and How Did Vera Cooper Rubin’s Work On Galaxies Lead To the Discovery of Dark Matter?
In the 1970s, Vera Cooper Rubin started what seemed like an innocent experiment with another American astronomer, Kent Ford. Rubin wanted to determine why spiral galaxies differ in structure. She decided to compare…
-
Which Famous Artist Painted the Most Self Portraits and Why?
Of the world's famous painters, Rembrandt painted the most self portraits, with 62 self-portraits. Vincent van Gogh is number two, with 40. He had a good excuse, though, while institutionalized for madness, he…
-
Can Only Presidents’ Portraits Appear on Paper Money?
Although most of the paper money issued by our government have portraits of presidents, not all do. The presidents who do appear on bills are: George Washington on the $1; Thomas Jefferson on…
-
Who Discovered the Great Dark Spot On the Planet Neptune and How Big Is the Great Dark Spot On Neptune?
Neptune's Great Dark Spot, like Jupiter's Great Red Spot and Saturn's Great White Spot, indicates an atmospheric storm. It is an anticyclone, a cyclone rotating in a counterclockwise direction, about the size of…
