Goya

Winner of the PROSE Award in Biography & Autobiography, Association of American Publishers A Publishers Weekly Top 10 Art, Architecture, & Photography Book of Fall 2020 One of The Sunday Times' Best Art Books of 2020 An impressive and scrupulous work of scholarship. ---Michael Prodger, The Sunday Times Goya: A Portrait of the Artist [is] a newly informed chance to reflect on an artist of enigmatic mind and permanent significance. . . . Tomlinson addresses, with refreshing clarity, a chronic question of just how independent, not to say subversive, Goya was of the powers that employed him. . . . She admirably keeps the mysteries of Goya's character distinct from its self-serving machinations. ---Peter Schjeldahl, New Yorker [A] thorough and balanced biography. . . . Tomlinson is an excellent guide. ---Robin Simon, Literary Review According to Janis Tomlinson, the great Spanish painter and etcher was not, as legend has it, a man who turned in on himself and . . . depicted a horror-haunted inner world with demons and witches everywhere, but a social creature who took on the cultural and folkloric currents of his time. Her Goya is no recluse, but shifts alongside his rapidly changing political masters. * Sunday Times * If ever there was a time that demanded a fuller understanding of Francisco de Goya y Lucientes, that time is now. Goya navigated the tempestuous shoals around being a court painter and an independent humanist during the brutal period of Spain's Imperial unraveling. In the process he emerged as arguably the first modern artist...[A] superlative study. ---Christopher Knight, LA Times Tomlinson has produced an authoritative, reliable and thoroughly up-to-date biography that includes many insights into Goya's social and political milieu during a time of unprecedented upheaval in Spain. . . . [The book offers] a detailed account of his life while simultaneously offering insights into the artist's creative process and providing the reader with the opportunity to distinguish between the legends and the facts concerning many facets of Goya's life and work. ---Simon Lee, Burlington Magazine In Goya: A Portrait of the Artist, [Janis Tomlinson shows that] the painter was not the loner that he is sometimes imagined to be. . . . One of the pleasures of Tomlinson's book lies in encountering the unvarnished details of Goya's life; her delineation of the artist's remarkably flexible political allegiances is especially engrossing. ---Andrew Martin, Harper's Magazine [Tomlinson] is an expert, evenhanded guide and there is no question we are in the surest hands. ---Maxwell Carter, Wall Street Journal Tomlinson's detailed account of this long and productive life is discriminating and trustworthy. . . . Tomlinson has supplied a cool and corrective scholarly chronicle. ---Julian Bell, New York Review of Books A passionate and well-researched biography. . . . Tomlinson refutes the common image of Goya as a dark, obsessive artist and attributes his success, instead, to his geniality and initiative. The writing is insightful, with Tomlinson's pensive, philosophical tone mirroring her deep expertise and knack for critical thinking. This inspired, thoughtful work sheds new light on Goya and will enthrall any lover of fine art. * Publishers Weekly * Tomlinson's meticulous distillation of a voluminous number of parish records, drawings, notes, and letters is impressive, and her knowledge of and passion for Goya continually shine through in her writing, making for a fascinating and insightful reading experience. A top-notch biography. * Kirkus starred review * This well-informed, comprehensive biography would make an excellent gift for an art lover. Tomlinson has fashioned a clear and informative biography that will appeal to Goya researchers and enthusiasts. ---Alexander Adams, The Critic This masterly biography now puts the work into context and breathes life into the legend of the morose recluse. ---Bel Mooney, The Daily Mail The 'portrait of the artist' painted by Tomlinson is that of a man able to adapt to an ever-changing political landscape. Her prose interweaves personal biography and major historical events with brief interludes of artistic description that whet the visual appetite. Reading it is like walking on a frozen lake, aware of the scholarly depth beneath but safe on top of the thick ice. Bite-size chap ters transform the tome into a digestible and enjoyable read. . . . in a world brimming with books on Goya, this will surely stand as the definitive biography for years to come. ---Isabelle Kent, Apollo Goya [is] a lucid, meticulously researched, and nuanced account of the life of the perennially fascinating Spanish painter, Francisco de Goya...[Janis] Tomlinson's book is both a meticulous scholarly contribution and a highly accessible biography for the non-specialist reader. . . . Tomlinson's tour de force is a profoundly sensitive and masterful portrait of one of the towering artists of the modern era. ---Catherine M. Jaffe, Dieciocho Goya takes a fresh look at well-trodden misconceptions about the artist, exhuming details from parish records, court papers, newspapers, and other archives, and investigated how recent discoveries like an early sketchbook and new access to his letters provide insight into his six decades of art. ---Allison C. Meier, Fine Books & Collections Francisco de Goya is often thought of as the reclusive, deaf and delusional artist who depicted drowning dogs, mutilated bodies and Saturn devouring his son...In Goya, the American art historian Janis Tomlinson goes some way to dispelling this perception, scouring primary resources - including the Spaniard's letters, court papers and sketchbooks - to provide a more nuanced depiction. * Christie's *