'Goya: The Portraits' at the National Gallery charts the Spanish artist's life from humble village to royal court

As the National Gallery launches a major exhibition of portraits by the Spanish artist, we chart his domestic life from rags to riches.

Night vision: in this 1792 self-portrait Goya’s hat has candle spikes on it so he can paint on during the hours of darkness. Image: Museo de la Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid

Philippa Stockley16 February 2016

Rags to riches stories don’t come better than that of Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, who was born in 1746 in a brick house in the village of Fuendetodos, 36 miles south of Zaragoza, in arid, rocky Aragon.

Humble beginnings: the hearth where Goya’s family huddled to cook and eat in the house where he was born, in Aragon

Capturing the moment: the artist made friends with many of his sitters including the Duchess of Alba, left, and perfectly captures the moment in his portrait of the music-loving Marquis of Villafranca, right

Noble subjects

The daily life of the nobility: Goya's painting of The Family of the Infante Don Luis of Bourbon (1784)

Goya: The Portraits runs from October 7 to January 10, 2016. Go to www.nationalgallery.org.uk for details.

Get the Goya look

Ravishing tableware: available from Spanish company Zara Home includes majolica-look green leaf bowls at £7.99 and leaf-print chargers, £19.99

For interiors use rich silks, brocades and velvets: as with this 18th-century-inspired velvet Uppark sofa by Max Rollitt, £6,836 plus fabric

Antique-finish wooden box: £29.99 from Zara Home

Ingal majolica tiles: priced from £18 each at Lascaux

Resin lamp with black shade: £59.99 from Zara Home

Casta chair: by Claire-Anne O’Brien, £3,800 (www.happenprojects.com)

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