After looking at some of Goya’s prints, I started thinking that his illness provided him with a great advantage that enabled him to produce impressively critical works. Goya’s illustrations are characterized by penetrating sharpness, their effect is quite resonant and this primarily stems from the fact that they demonstrate a strong voice. Goya’s prints are quite lively, the people’s expressions are effectively articulated on their faces and there is a strong impression of texture, both which affect the viewers intensely. In my opinion, this sharp effect was purposefully incorporated by Goya as a way to transmit the irony of his opinions after he was inflicted with deafness. Goya’s illness made him secluded to some extent from the world around him and must have provided him with a different vintage point in his viewing of society.
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This is a good point. It’s been suggested that parts of the brain are rewired to compensate for sensory loss in one area. This article talks mostly about auditory enhancement after blindness, but it goes both ways (https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/05/120508152002.htm). When we look at other artists with sensory loss, like Beethoven (who was effectively deaf for the latter portion of his life), we have to wonder how much influence intentional attentiveness has on our abilities.