Goya's deafness
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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In late 1792, Goya suffers a terrible illness while visiting his patron Sebastian Martinez.
- While accompanying her in the winter of 1792-1793, the chaise broke down and Goya's insistence upon singlehandedly mending the broken axle brought on a chill and fevers. The complications appear to have resulted in complete deafness ... --Deaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary, Harry G. Lang, 1995
At some time between late 1792 and early 1793, a serious illness (the exact nature of which is not known) left Goya deaf, and he became withdrawn and introspective. During his recuperation, he undertook a series of experimental paintings. His experimental art would encompass paintings and drawings as well as a bitterly expressive series of aquatinted etchings, published in 1799 under the title Caprichos.
In 1819, with the idea of isolating himself, he bought a country house by the Manzanares river just outside of Madrid. It was known as the Quinta del Sordo (roughly, "House of the Deaf Man", titled after its previous owner and not after Goya himself). There he created the Black Paintings with intense, haunting themes, reflective of the artist's fear of insanity and his outlook on humanity. Several of these, including Saturn Devouring His Son, were painted directly onto the walls of his dining and sitting rooms.
As he completed Yard with Lunatics, Goya was himself undergoing a physical and mental breakdown. It happened a few weeks after the French declaration of war on Spain, and Goya’s illness was developing. A contemporary reported, "The noises in his head and deafness aren’t improving, yet his vision is much better and he is back in control of his balance."
These symptoms may indicate a prolonged viral encephalitis, or possibly a series of miniature strokes resulting from high blood pressure and affecting the hearing and balance centers of the brain. The triad of tinnitus, episodes of imbalance, and progressive deafness are also typical of Ménière's disease.
