Goya’s Madrid – Secrets Revealed

This is our very adventurous tour of one of Spain’s most famous painters, Francisco de Goya.

We start with a visit to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, close to Puerta del Sol where Goya received his degree in 1780. This fine 18th century building houses Goya’s original etching plates from his series Caprichos; his condemnation of the universal folly and foolishness in Spanish society. It also includes his Disasters of War depicting the horrors inflicted on the nation during Napoleon’s invasion in 1808.

On the second floor there are paintings from his earlier work; portraits of his liberal minded friends and a daring one of the Queen’s favourite and lover, the odious Manuel Godoy, Prince of the Peace and Supreme Commander of the Spanish Army.

After refreshments at the fashionable Café de Oriente facing the Royal palace, we take a taxi down to the river and the Chapel of San Antonio de la Florida. Goya painted the interior dome in 1798, which depicts a a murdered man being brought back from the dead by Saint Antonio to tell him who his murderer was amongst the crowd of onlookers. Don’t worry, all will be revealed!

Goya died in exile in Bordeaux in 1828, and in 1919 his remains were finally returned to Spain and buried here in front of the high-alter.