by Tim McNeese
ingyear,placinghimamidtheexcitementsofthebattlefield.
Titled Godoy as Commander in the War of the Oranges, it
depicted a campaign Godoy had fought against Portugal the
previous year. There the man who had brazenly loved the
queen of Carlos IV sits, amid the rocks, reading a dispatch,
flankedbyanadjutantonhisleftandadrapedfieldflagathis
right.Heistheepitomeofthecommander.
a NeW masterpieCe
Byfall1800,Goyahadcompletedthesketchesoftheindividu-
alswhowouldbeincludedinhispaintingoftheroyalfamily
hehadbegunthepreviousyear.Theresultingpainting, Family
of Carlos IV,isconsideredaGoyamasterpiece.Althoughthe
13 royally-connected figures are surrounded by the dark-
nessthathangsoveraroomwherelargepaintingsdominate
the adjacent wall, the entourage seems to sparkle with the
accoutrementsofroyalsplendor.Theyarewearingtheirbest,
a spectacular and colorful array of blues, creams, and reds
intended to dazzle the viewer with the enviable privilege of
rank.Gems,stringsofpearls,tiaras,medallions,swords,and
goldenembroideryilluminatethework.
Yet these baubles and beads only manage to offset the
blank looks of nearly everyone in the painting. The queen’s
facehastheappearanceofadough-facedmatronwhoforgot
Rising Star, Dark Shadows 107
toputinherfalseteeth.Sheisastudyincontrasts,a48-year-
oldwomanwho“hadborne10or12children,butiswearing
aCupid’sdartinherhairinthelatestFrenchfashion.”95As
onearthistorianhasnoted:“Itisremarkablethatsheaccepted
Goya’s likeness of her.”96 The king stands blankly, looking
morelikeaservantwearingsomeoneelse’sclothes.Theoth-
erssimplyappearalternatelyhaughty,distracted,curious,and
evenstartled,asintheyoungestson,thesix-year-oldInfante
Francisco de Paula Antonio, holding the hand of the queen.
Despitetheglitterandgoldofthepainting,thequeenandking
havebeensohumanizedbyGoyathattheywerelaterdescribed
byaFrenchnovelistaslookinglike“thecornerbakerandhis
wifeaftertheyhavewonthelottery.”97 Theonlysubjectsofthe
paintingwhodonotappearuncomfortableinhisorherown
shoesisGoyahimself,whosethree-quarterprofileappearsin
thedarkofthepainting’sbackground,andperhapstheyoung
girlatthequeen’srightside,theangelicDonaMariaIsabel.In
clothingandjewelry,sheisalmostthedoubleofhermother.
Yet,heryouthrevealsaninnocence,asoftness,andasimple-
nessthatremindstheviewerofGoya’sfondnessandskillfor
paintingchildren.
THE NAKED MAJA
AtaboutthetimeGoyafinishedhismasterfulportraitofthe
royal family late in 1800, he probably completed another
painting,aspecialworkforGodoy.Itbecameamatterofcon-
troversy and speculation at the time and has remained such
over the past two centuries. The painting has been titled, La
Maja desnuda (The Naked Maja). It was in Godoy’s posses-
sionbyNovember12,1800,“whereitwasseenbyavisitorin
a cabinet dedicated to the female nude.”98 Among the other
worksinthesecretcabinetwasa1650paintingbyVelázquez
ofanotherreclining,nudewoman.
Goya’s was a full-length horizontal painting of a young
womanwhowasprobablyGodoy’smistress,PepitaTudo,for
whomGoyahadbeenforcedtomoveearlierintheyear.Itwas
108 FRANCISCO GOyA
a work destined to become an icon of not only Goya’s early
nineteenth-century art but of modern art itself. The subject
issimple:anunabashedandunashamedyoungwomanlying
on a pile of pillows stark naked, her arms lifted coyly above
her head and a knowing smile on her face. Such a painting
was a gamble at the time for Goya. Generally, depictions of
nudewomenwastabooinSpanishartofthatera,aninfrac-
tion of social mores that would likely draw the attention of
theInquisition.Thepurposeoftheworkisclear:tocelebrate
thephysicalbeautyofaconfidentwomanforwhomeroticism
mightbesimplysecondnature.
There would be additional commissions from Godoy to
Goya between 1801 and 1803, including several small paint-
ingstodecoratetheSpanishleader’spalace,aswellasasecond
painting of maja, La Maja Vestida (Clothed Maja). It was a
duplicateoftheportraitofthenakedPepita,butthistimethe
coymistressisportrayedwearingclothing.Duringthattime,
summer 1802, the duchess of Alba died following a month-
longillness(rumoratthetimetoldofherbeingpoisonedby
thequeenorevenGodoy).Goyaappearstohavebeendriven
tocompleteasketchinmemoryofhisfriend.Otherwise,there
isnorecordofanyotherresponseonthepartoftheartistto
herdeath.
In1803,Goyasawtheroyalfamilyagain,butnottopaint
aportrait.Sincesellingprintsof The Caprices hadbeenshut
down,GoyachosetoselltheoriginalcopperplatestoCarlos
IV and use the money to help his 19-year-old son, Xavier,
in his various travels. It would be an important exchange
betweenkingandartist,foritwouldmarkthelasttimeGoya
wouldseethemonarchuntil1808.Throughthosefiveyears,
hecontinuedtobepaidascourtpainter,butdidnoportraits
of the royals. He did continue to work, however, with other
commissionsandmanagedtosaveenoughmoneytopurchase
another house, this one at Calle de los Reyes in Madrid. It
would be the largest, grandest home he would ever own, “a
Rising Star, Dark Shadows 109
Painted between 1801 and 1803, The Clothed Maja is almost a duplicate of Goya’s masterpiece, The Naked Maja. It is reported that the original owner of both paintings, Manuel de Godoy, hung The Clothed Maja in front of The Naked Maja so that The Naked Maja could be revealed at any time with a pulley device.
granite-walled affair with a paved porch and courtyard in a
fashionablequarter.”99
Oneofhisimportantworksin1803wasaportrait, The
Count of Fernan Nuñez.Arthistorianshavereferredtoitas
themaleportraitmostsimilartoGoya’sportraitofGodoy’s
wife, The Countess of Chinchon. Stylistically, it is close in
qualitytothefemaleportrait.Thework“liketheroyalpor-
traits,approachesopensatire.”100 Itisafull-lengthpictureof
thecount,dominatedbyblack,includingthesubject’sboots,
cloak,cape,tricornhat,andbushysideburns.Ahandraised
totheheart,agallantrightfootforward,acockedleftelbow,
and a gaze into the distance as if the count were viewing
somethingimportant,makethestanceappearbeyondregal:
110 FRANCISCO GOyA
>
the pose is almost comically heroic. (The count, of course,
would never hold any real power, having to settle for an
assignmentattheSpanishembassyinLondon.)Nevertheless,
the portrait of the 24-year-old Nuñez reveals Goya as a
completelymatureartist“perfectlymarryingstylizationand
realism.”101 Ultimately, it must have been a portrait that
pleased, because Nuñez, a member of the Academy of San
Fernando,wouldbeoneofeightwhowouldvoteforGoyato
becomethenewdirectoroftheAcademy.(Goyawouldlose
thatelectionafteranotherpainter,GregorioFerro,received
29votes.)
tHe NaKeD aND tHe CLOtHeD
maja: WHO Was sHe?
The Naked Maja and The Clothed Maja remain a pair of the most intriguing paintings ever done by Goya. They are mirror
images of one another, except that in one, the female subject is
fully clothed, while in the second, she is naked. In both works,
“she is sultry, desirable, seductively immodest.”* For Goya’s art,
she is a milestone, and for the history of Western art, she is an
enigma, “one of the most provocative and magnetic figures ever
painted.”** yet just exactly who was the beauty?
Some art historians have identified her as the duchess of
Alba, with whom Goya allegedly had an affair. Supposedly, the
love-crazed artist painted his dual tribute to both the public
woman and the private. A better explanation is that she is prob-
ably Pepita Tuda, mistress of the Spanish prime minister, Manuel
Godoy, who was also a lover to Queen Maria Luisa. This answer
springs from the fact that both paintings wound up in the house-
hold inventory of Godoy’s estate. This, of course, is not irrefut-
able proof, and the claim that she is the duchess of Alba has
never ceased.
During the 1940s, members of the Alba family went to great
lengths to disprove the claim. They agreed to allow her grave to
Rising Star, Dark Shadows 111
aN estaBLisHeD rHYtHm
OtherprivatecommissionsremainedonGoya’splateduring
these years, each furthering an already illustrious career. He
paintedafriendofCabarrus’s,themarquisdeSanAdrianin
1804,awell-executedworkthatcarriesoffinfluencesinclud-
ing English portraiture style, which featured the marquis
standingwithhislegscrossed.Itisapaintingcompletewith
“greatattentiontoaccuratelyrenderingandcoloringtheopen,
sympathetic expression on the young face.”102 Such works
for Goya, now a man in his late fifties, have become second
nature to the artist. He is so skilled as a craftsman that it is
be exhumed “to compare the measurements of the skeleton with
those of the maja in the painting.”*** yet all those examinations
revealed were two broken legs that probably occurred “when her
casket was dropped during a French raid on the cemetery at the
time of the Napoleonic wars.Ӡ
yet how did this painting ever come to be in the first place?
In Goya’s time, artwork depicting the female nude, especially
one as clearly sexualized as this one, were almost nonexistent in
Spain. In fact, Goya’s painting did get him into trouble. He was
called before the Spanish Inquisition in 1814, where he faced
a charge of obscenity. Nothing is known of his trial, but he was
never jailed, and the painting was never banned, even though
it was confiscated. And yet, in the swirl of controversy over one
of his most famous paintings, Goya never told anyone who the
woman in his artistic masterpiece actually was.
* Quoted in richard schickel, The World of Goya, 1746–1828 (new
York: Time-Life Books, 1968), 68.
** ibid.
*** ibid.
† ibid.
112 FRANCISCO GOyA
“nolongerpossibleforGoyatopaintbadly.”103 Inlateryears,
Xavierwouldreflectonhisfather’stalentatthisstageofhis
life,declaringofhim,“therewasnothingleft...toconquer
inpainting...heknewthemagic[thiswasatermusedcon-
stantly by Goya] of atmosphere in a picture.”104 Everything
lay at his feet. He was the painter for the royal family and a
memberoftheAcademyofSanFernando.Hehadwonnearly
allthehonorsavailabletoaSpanishartistofhistime.Hewas
wealthy beyond most people’s dreams. Yes, he was deaf and
hadbeenforseveralyears,butthedrivenGoyahadsurpassed
hishandicap.Hehadaccepteditalongtimeago,anditseemed
irrelevanttohim.
InthisfirstdecadeofanewcenturyforGoya,theartist
maywellhavebelievedthathislifewasreachingitsquietfinal
yearsthatcouldeasilybefilledwithmoreportraitsofevery-
thing from royalty to street life in Madrid. His son would
soonmarry.TherewasarhythmtoGoya’sworld.Hecould
have easily and reasonably assumed by 1805 that his most
importantyearswerealreadybehindhim.Yetthatassump-
tion,ifindeedGoyaeverreconciledhimselftoit,wouldsoon
beshattered.Internationaleventswouldchangethehistory
of Spain as well as the life of the artist. Godoy, Napoleon,
andtheSpanishroyalfamilywouldprovetobethecatalyst
intheseevents.Thistriadwouldcauseachainofeventsthat
wouldcauseGoyatobreakfromwhathadprobablybecome
theartist’spredictability,leadinghimtostretchhimselfmore
thanhehadinyearsandachievenewheightsofinfluenceand
artisticsuccess.
9
The Second of
May and The
Third of May
The changes that would bring redirection to Spain and to
Goya would begin to take shape by fall 1805. On October
21, in the Mediterranean waters off Cape Trafalgar, located
along the southwestern shores of Spain, a tremendous sea
battleunfolded.Thisnavalengagementwouldbothcrownand
crush. Warships of the British fleet, under the command of
LordHoratioNelson,brokefromtheusualplanofsailingina
longlineparalleltotheenemy’svesselsandthentryingtoblast
the enemy out of the water. Nelson ordered his ships to sail
intotheenemy,whichincludedshipsofboththealliedFrench
andSpanishfleets.Nelsonwontheday,evenashelosthislife
fromawoundhereceivedduringtheheatoftheengagement.
Yetthisgreatnavalvictorywouldcauseotherdominoesto
fall.ThevictoryledNapoleontostepuphismarch.From1805
to1807,heconsolidatedvictoriesoverhisEuropeanenemies,
113
114 FRANCISCO GOyA
including the Austrians, the Prussians, and the Russians. By
1807,Napoleonhadreachedthepeakofhispoliticalpowerand
militarymight.Bytheendoftheyear,inanefforttoexpandthe
scopeofhisempire,FrencharmiesoccupiedPortugal,Spain’s
neighbor on the Iberian Peninsula. From there, Napoleon
launchedcampaignsinSpain,overthrowingtheSpanishmon-
arch,CarlosIV,after20yearsofrule.Napoleontheninstalled
oneofhisbrothersasthenewkingofSpain.
DespitetheestablishmentofaFrenchmonarchinSpain,
Spanish resistance did not end. Small bands of guerrilla sol-
dierscontinuedtoharasstheFrenchforyears.Thesefighters
were ordinary Spaniards, not professional soldiers, and they
foughtwithanythingtheycould—farmingtools,axes,wooden
sticks,evenroofingtiles—keepingtheforcesofNapoleontied
upforsixorsevenyears.TheseyearsofwarinSpain,known
asthePeninsularWar,lasteduntil1814.
GOYa’s WOrK CONtiNUes
Duringtheyearsdirectlypriortothisprotractedwarbetween
Spain and France, Goya was busy with his commissioned
portraits.Thesubjectswereslightlydifferent,however,from
earlieryearsinthatGoyawaspaintingmoreportraitsofmen
and women who made up Spain’s expanding middle class.
In1805,Goya’sson,Xavier,turned21andgotmarried.The
followingyear,Goyabecameagrandfather.Goyaturned60
yearsold,buthewasnotabouttoslowdown,and,despite
his deafness and other physical distractions, he continued
topaint.Hewaswealthyenoughtoretire,butstoppingthe
workhelovedwasnotagoal.Instead,hewasabletorelyon
his relative wealth to “survive all the political upheavals he
witnessed.”105
ThesepoliticaleventscaughtupwithGoya’sartin1808.
Thatyear,theFrenchforcedCarlosIVtoabdicatehisthrone
infavorofhisson,whowouldbecomeFerdinandVII.Goya
was immediately commissioned by the Academy of San
Fernandotopaintaportraitoftheyoungerkingonhorseback.
The Second of May and The Third of May 115
ThekingmanagedtofindtimetoposeforGoya,butbefore
thepaintingwasfinished,Ferdinandwasforcedtogiveuphis
thronetooneofNapoleon’sbrothers.Goyahadtofinishthe
portraitfrommemory.Thatspring,theeventsofMay2and
May3tookplace—twodaysofterrorthatGoyawouldlater
memorializeintwopaintings.
From1808to1814,theyearsofwarbetweenFranceand
SpainwouldbedifficultforGoya.Thereweredividedloyal-
