Francisco Goya : a study of the work and personality of the eighteenth century Spanish painter and satirist
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Francisco Goya : a study of the work and personality of the eighteenth century Spanish painter and satirist is a biography of Spanish painter Goya.
The popular story is best told in Madame Dieulafoy's book on Aragon. ' The Duke (of
Alba), learning that his wife often went to Goya's studio,
became suspicious. He bribed the artist's servants, and
soon discovered that she posed before him in a paradisiacal
costume which marvellously became her. Friends warned
both artist and sitter that the Duke was openly swearing
to interrupt the next sitting in a startling manner. The
next day the Duke presented himself at the doors of the
studio, accompanied by alguazils and police. The door
was broken open, and the Duchess discovered correctly
clothed, whilst the painter was busily engaged on the
Maja vestida. During the night Goya had made an
exact copy of the Maja desnuda, so as to ensure that if the
Duke had been given correct information concerning the
pose he had been deceived with respect to the costume."
The tale belongs to the group of legends concerning Goya
over which his biographers have fiercely battled. The
most important evidence in support of the assertion that
the Duchess was the model for the two Majas is that of
the face. Comparing the features of this entrancing
damsel with the accepted portraits, of Dona Maria
Theresa it must be admitted that there are too many
points of similarity to refute the current belief. The
mass of dark hair, the eyes and eyebrows, the nose,
the mouth, and, to some extent, the chin, are almost
identical. The chief difference is in the expression.
The portraits are inclined to melancholy. The Duchess
gazes from her canvas with eyes of sombre dignity.
The Majas, on the contrary, are frankly self-conscious,
and look at the spectator with the slightest suspicion of
a graceless twinkle. On the other hand, the Marquis de
la Romana's sketch reveals another " soul-side " of
skittish frivolity. If it be suggested that great ladies
do not usually sit to artists in what poor Trilby called
" the altogether " there is little need to search far to find
examples which prove the contrary. Pauline Borghese,
Napoleon's most beautiful sister, did not disdain to pose
to Canova, and Napoleon's second wife, the Empress
Marie-Louise, is traditionally said to have been the model
for a Venus by Prud'hon.*
