How did Giovanni Battista Tiepolo influence Francisco Goya's early religious paintings?

Francisco Goya’s early religious paintings, particularly those executed in Zaragoza following his return from Italy in 1771, were significantly influenced by the Baroque-Rococo style of Giovanni Battista Tiepolo.

Tiepolo, a renowned Venetian painter, spent the final years of his life in Madrid (1762–1770) working on royal commissions, which allowed his decorative style to become a prominent influence in Spain. Goya adopted this aesthetic in his early religious works, though he later modified it by incorporating the emphasis on simplicity advocated by Anton Raphael Mengs.

Even later in his career, Goya maintained a connection to this tradition; his 1798 decoration of the church of San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid is noted as being in the tradition of Tiepolo. However, in that work, Goya infused the style with his own bold, free execution and an expressive realism that departed from conventional formulas, marking a transition toward his more individualistic and mature artistic voice.12