Goya - Tapa dura

"Goya is what a good art book - or indeed any book - should be; personal and clear-sighted, passionate and thoughtful. The pugnacious Hughes knows what he knows about Goya, and he also knows how to express it." (Michael Prodger, Sunday Telegraph)

"Robert Hughes s Goya manages, with his usual style and skill, to enter into the spirit of the most enigmatic of painters." (Colm Toibin, New Statesman)

"an urbane, scholarly, immensely readable book that not only throws light on the artist s independent brilliance but also, in Hughes s wry and trenchant style, on the boorish parochialism of 18th-century Spain." (Sue Hubbard, The Independent)

"an enthralling and illuminating - if uncharacteristically deferential - study..." (Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman)

The starting point of this journey through Goya's life in 18th-century Spain is Hughes' own first encounter with the artist's work when he was a student in Australia. The remainder of the book charts the artist's entire career, describing his painted and graphic oeuvre within its historial context. Particular attention is paid to Goya's patrons, his favourite themes (portraits, scenes of warfare and terror, satirical prints and so on), his criticism of the Catholic Church and encounters with the Inquisition, his fierce anti-war stance and his reputation in his lifetime. What emerges is a picture of an artist deeply engaged with life around him and fully committed to documenting it with an unflinching eye for truth and injustice.