Goya and the Mystery of Reading

Spanish artist Francisco de Goya (1746–1828) lived through an era of profound societal change. One of the transformations that he engaged passionately was the unprecedented growth both in the number of readers and in the quantity and diversity of texts available. He documented and questioned this reading revolution in some of his most captivating paintings, prints, and drawings.

Goya and the Mystery of Reading explores the critical impact this transition had on the work of an artist who ai...