''La maja vestida'' (English translation: ''The Clothed Maja'') is an oil painting on canvas created between 1800 and 1807 by the Spanish Romantic painter and printmaker

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

. It is a clothed version of the earlier ''

La maja desnuda ''The Naked Maja'' or ''The Nude Maja'' ( es, La maja desnuda ) is an oil on canvas painting made around 1797–1800 by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It portrays a nude woman reclining on a ...

'', which was created between 1795 and 1800. The identity of the model and that of the commissioner have not been confirmed. However, art historians and scholars have suggested she is María Cayetana de Silva or Godoy's mistress Pepita Tudó. ''The Clothed Maja'' was created during the peak of Romanticism. The paintings were never publicly exhibited during Goya's lifetime, so it is also unknown if they were created as pendant paintings, to be displayed as a pair. However, since 1901 they have been exhibited together at the Museo Nacional del Prado in

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...

. Beforehand, it was twice in the collection of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, also in Madrid, before being "

sequester Sequestration or sequester may refer to: Law and government * Sequestration (law), the seizure of property for creditors or the state. See also Committee for Compounding with Delinquents * Jury sequestration, the isolation of a jury * Bankruptcy, ...

ed" by the

Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...

between 1814 and 1836. The ''maja vestida'' and ''maja desnuda'' were both first cited in an 1808 inventory, when Godoy's assets were seized by

King Ferdinand VII , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Charles IV of Spain , mother = Maria Luisa of Parma , birth_date = 14 October 1784 , birth_place = El Escorial, Spain , death_date = , death_place = Madrid, Spain , burial_plac ...

Background

The origins of both paintings are unclear, with some sources claiming they were commissioned by the Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy for his private collection. This claim would suggest the woman in the paintings to be Pepita Tudó, the mistress of Godoy. However, Lion Feuchtwanger, a Bavarian novelist and playwright, cites in his book ''Goya'' (1951) that Godoy allegedly purchased both of the paintings from the heirs of María Cayetana de Silva, the 13th Duchess of Alba, after her death in 1802. The Duchess of Alba and Goya were rumored to have a prolonged and passionate affair after he had been commissioned to paint a portrait of the Duchess. Evidence of their affair comes from personal letters written by Goya where he states, "Now I know how it feels to live". Another piece of evidence comes from a 1797 portrait where she is wearing two rings, one inscribed 'Goya' and the other 'Alba', on her hand pointing down towards a hidden inscription at her feet that says, "Only Goya".

Reception

The first written account of the ''vestida'' dates back to an 1808 inventory of Godoy's assets after their seizure by Ferdinand VII. Frederic Quillet had been tasked by his commander,

Joseph Bonaparte it, Giuseppe-Napoleone Buonaparte es, José Napoleón Bonaparte , house = Bonaparte , father = Carlo Buonaparte , mother = Letizia Ramolino , birth_date = 7 January 1768 , birth_place = Corte, Corsica, Republic of ...

, to make an inventory of Godoy's private collection during the

French occupation of Spain Napoleonic Spain was the part of Spain loyal to Joseph I during the Peninsular War (1808–1813) after the country was partially occupied by French forces. During this period, the country was considered a client state of the First French Empire. ...

. The ''vestida'' and ''desnuda'' were categorized as the ''Naked Gypsy/Venus'' and the ''Clothed Gypsy/Venus''. They were considered by the French ruling class to be "obscene".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Maja Vestida, La Paintings by Francisco Goya in the Museo del Prado Romantic artists Spanish romantic painters Francisco Goya