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''The White Duchess'' is a life sized (192 x 128 cm) oil-on-canvas painting by the
The Woman in White: Goya's first portrait of the Dutchess of Alba
. Notes from a lecture at the Museo del Prado, 2000. Retrieved 31 January 2016 The commission is first mentioned in a letter dated August 2, 1794, written to his friend
The painting is composed from white, red, blue and brown pigments, but is mostly, according to Hughes "built around two themes, red and white", with the other major colour being black, represented by her dark curly hair.
María Cayetana de Silva was then 33 years old (middle aged for the time) and had recently recovered from a lengthy illness. She is presented with affection as a great beauty, and an engaging woman of wit and education. She stands in a dignified pose, looking directly at the viewer with a penetrating gaze. She is dressed in a full-length French style flowing white dress – far more elegant than the ''Maja'' style of the 1797 painting. The dress is made from white
File:José Álvarez de Toledo, Duque de Alba.jpg, ''José Álvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alba'', 1795. de Silva's husband and a cultivated patron of the arts
File:La duquesa de Alba y la Beata.jpg, '' The Duchess of Alba and la Beata'', 1795
File:Goya Alba1, Detail.jpg, Detail showing the inscriptions in the sand
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
artist 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 ...
, completed in 1795 and now in the collection of the House of Alba
The House of Alba de Tormes ( es, Casa de Alba de Tormes), commonly known as the House of Alba, is a prominent Spanish noble family that descended from 12th-century nobility of post-conquest Toledo. The family's claim to Alba de Tormes dates fr ...
, in the Liria Palace
The Liria Palace (Spanish: ''Palacio de Liria'') is a neoclassical palace in Madrid, Spain. It is the Madrid residence of the Dukes of Alba.
History
Built around 1770 to a design by the architect Ventura Rodríguez, it was commissioned by Jam ...
, in Madrid. It portrays María Cayetana de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba
María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Silva-Bazán, 13th Duchess of Alba, GE (10 June 1762 – 23 July 1802), was a Spanish aristocrat and a popular subject of the painter Francisco de Goya.
Biography
María Teresa, as she was called in he ...
, and is one of a number of portraits Goya painted of her around this time, and is usually compared alongside the similarly sized but tonally very different '' Black Duchess'', which was painted two years later, just after her husband, José Álvarez de Toledo died aged 39.Hughes, 162 The duke and duchess were highly placed, cultivated and well-regarded members of the 1790s Spanish Court.Symmons, Sarah.The Woman in White: Goya's first portrait of the Dutchess of Alba
. Notes from a lecture at the Museo del Prado, 2000. Retrieved 31 January 2016 The commission is first mentioned in a letter dated August 2, 1794, written to his friend
Martín Zapater
Martín Zapater y Clavería (12 November 1747, Zaragoza - 1803, Zaragoza) was a wealthy Aragonese merchant, with an enlightenment point of view. He is largely known for his close friendship with the famous artist, Francisco Goya. The letters th ...
, which mentions that Goya that had been asked to paint life-sized portraits of the Dukes of Alba.
Description
The painting is composed from white, red, blue and brown pigments, but is mostly, according to Hughes "built around two themes, red and white", with the other major colour being black, represented by her dark curly hair.
María Cayetana de Silva was then 33 years old (middle aged for the time) and had recently recovered from a lengthy illness. She is presented with affection as a great beauty, and an engaging woman of wit and education. She stands in a dignified pose, looking directly at the viewer with a penetrating gaze. She is dressed in a full-length French style flowing white dress – far more elegant than the ''Maja'' style of the 1797 painting. The dress is made from white muslin
Muslin () is a cotton fabric of plain weave. It is made in a wide range of weights from delicate sheers to coarse sheeting. It gets its name from the city of Mosul, Iraq, where it was first manufactured.
Muslin of uncommonly delicate hands ...
fabric hemmed with gold embroidery. She has white pearl earrings, a wide red or scarlet sash
A sash is a large and usually colorful ribbon or band of material worn around the body, either draping from one shoulder to the opposing hip and back up, or else running around the waist. The sash around the waist may be worn in daily attire, bu ...
and trimming, red pearl necklace and beads and red bows on her breast and wrapped in her hair. A bichon frise
A bichon is a distinct Dog type, type of toy dog; it is typically kept as a companion dog. Believed to be descended from the Barbet (dog), Barbet, it is believed the bichon-type dates to at least the 11th century; it was relatively common in 14t ...
stands beside her. The dog also wears a red ribbon on one of its hind legs.
Her left arm is adorned with golden jewelry, placed at her wrist and above her elbow. She points with the index finger of her right hand towards an inscription on the ground, which includes Goya's autograph, a dating of 1795 and "A la duquesa de Alba Fr. de Goya 1795".Du Gué Trapier, Elizabeth. "Only Goya". ''The Burlington Magazine'', 102.685, 1960. 158–161
The almost Neoclassical style of her dress may have been influenced by the English print cabinet style of Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to:
Places
* Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England
** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich
* Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England
** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency)
* Gainsborough, New South Wales, ...
, William Hogarth
William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like ...
, George Romney and Joshua Reynolds, whose works Goya probably knew from black-and-white reproductions.
The portrait is in many ways formal. The choice to present her in an exterior indicates her wealth by displaying her land holdings. Because she was so highly respected and known to have a forceful personality, it is thought she had a strong influence on the final depiction.
Art historians have mused that a love affair existed between the painter and model, although there is no surviving evidence. Skeptics argue that because de Silva was famously beautiful, wealthy, and independent she would not have been interested in the successful but significantly older and unwell Goya. The two full-length portraits are known to have been significant to Goya. He held the ''Black Duchess'' in his possession for at least 15 years. Robert Hughes describes the "White Duchess" as a portrait fit for "semi-public consumption". Art Historian Janis Tomlinston wrote in 1994 that "no matter how liberal a patron she might have been, it seems unlikely that she would have accepted a portrait that so mercilessly emphasized her pride and hauteur".Tomlinston, 108
Gallery
See also
*List of works by Francisco Goya
The following is an incomplete list of works by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya.
Paintings (1763–1774)
Paintings (1775–1792)
''see also: List of Francisco Goya's tapestry cartoons''
Paintings (1793–1807)
Paintings (1 ...
Notes
Sources
* Connell, Evan S. ''Francisco Goya: A Life''. New York: Counterpoint, 2004. * Forty, Sandra. 'Francisco De Goya''. TAJ, 2014. ASIN B00USAESNM * Hughes, Robert. ''Goya''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. * Morales y Marín, José Luis. ''Goya: a catalogue of his paintings''. Real Academia de Nobles y Bellas Artes de San Luis, 1997 * Tomlinston, Janis. ''Francisco Goya y Lucientes''. Phaidon Press, 1994.External links
* {{DEFAULTSORT:White Duchess 1790s paintings Portraits by Francisco Goya Portraits of women Dogs in art