Abstract

The Black Paintings by Francisco de Goya have long been viewed as his most ambiguous group of works. Scholars have debated the significance of these images for over a hundred years because they are so different in nature from the rest of his pieces. Some art historians have even suggested that Goya did not create this series. However, the Black Paintings still include many important qualities of Goya’s oeuvre, such as mythological and/or biblical subjects and painting techniques. As an historical painter of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Goya would use his content to comment on events of the time, forever solidifying those moments in our minds and his place in Spanish history. This thesis discusses the characteristics of history painting and how Goya uses his artwork to comment on the happenings of late eighteenth and nineteenth century Spain, including, but not limited to, the Peninsular War (1808-1812) and the Spanish Inquisition. It also looks at different interpretations of the Black Paintings on new theories of authorship.