THIS I SAW

A whole-hearted biography of Goya and the full panoply of 18th century Spain in which he lived, this indicates the ornaments of his legend, the actual blanks of real know ledge of his life. This is the story of his burning desire for official recognition, of the development of his great art, of the terrific physical and artistic vigor, of the women in his life, of his relations at Court, of his penetrating pictorial comment on his times, of his deafness and its importance in his later years -- a story graphically, vividly presented. It is an addition to art biographies which is rich in the descriptions of his works, full in the historic details, thorough-going in the mirroring of his affairs -- financial, romantic, public and private -- and expansive in the panorama it unrolls of national and international events. The type of biography that is of interest not only in the field of painting but in the more general market too.