Francisco Goya was court painter to the Spanish Crown and the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His career divides sharply before and after the devastating illness of 1792–93 that left him completely deaf. The later Goya grew increasingly dark and visionary, producing the Disasters of War etchings, the Black Paintings, and masterworks of political horror like The Third of May 1808. He is considered the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns.
