Is it true that the Duchess of Alba is depicted in Goya's painting “Mach Naked”?

It is widely believed that for the paired masterpieces “Mach dressed” and “Mach naked” his lover, the Duchess of Alba, posed for the artist. We figured out how believable this legend is.

The story that Francisco Goya wrote a duchess in naked form is widespread. She serves as one of the through stories of Leon Feihtwanger's novel "Goya, or a difficult path of knowledge" (1951), his Soviet-German film adaptation (1971) and other films, for example, Mach Naked (1958), other works of art and publications on the Internet. This is the ancient identification: already in 1843, Louis Viardot, who saw the "dressed man" at the Royal Academy of San Fernando, He wrotethat in 1802 "they believed that she portrayed the Duchess of Alba."

This legend is based on the assumption of close relationships connecting the artist and aristocrat. Dictionary of Artists' Models Encyclopedic Dictionary Curses Both “Mah” in the list of Goya's paintings associated with the Duchess. It also included the “Portrait of the Duchess of Alba in a White Dress” (1795) and “Portrait of the Duchess of Alba” (1797), as well as the so -called “Sanlukur album”.

On the first of these portraits, the Duchess of Alba appears in the dress of Maha (Spanish dandy from the lower class, to dress up in the costume of which in that era It was fashionable Among the patriotic aristocracy). With a finger, she points to a barely noticeable inscription on the sand "Duchess of Alba Fr-Ko de Goya 1795." In the same year, Goya painted an informal picture, depicting The Duchess, quarreling with his duel Beata. Goya also managed to write two portrait The husband of the Duchess, who died in the summer of 1796.

The period followed by her husband’s death, the Duchess spent Sanlucker on the estate, where I went In the society of Goya - He lived there for several months. In Sanlukar, the artist created an album with drawings in which you can find very intimate scenes: a certain black -haired woman plays with arapchonka (it is known that the duchess I took it under guardianship African girl named Maria de La Luz), puts on stockings, combs her hair, lifts her shirt. "Sanlukur album" by many counts One of the main evidence that an intimate relationship was between the artist and the duchess - at least for several months.

The second proof of these relations is “Portrait of the Duchess of Alba” (“Duchess in Black”), where she is also depicted in the dress of Maha, but in black. Two rings are worn on the Duchess's right hand, on one Written "Alba", on the other - "Goya". Her finger, as in the previous portrait, points to the autograph on the sand. Moreover, the restoration of the 1950s showedWhat is actually written there not just Goya, but “only goya”. The first word was painted over by the artist himself. Unlike the first picture, she did not fall into the collection of the Dukes of Alba - Goya retained it for himself until 1812. These inscriptions prove that even if there were no intimate relationships between them, at least Goya was definitely greatly in love.

Although on both of her portraits, the Duchess of Alba is depicted in the outfit of Maha, if we talk about Goya's work, this was not exclusively with her attribute. In the Spanish national costume, Goya wrote not only the Duchess of Alba, but also the Queen Maria Louiseas well as the countess Fernan Nunez. He also has genre paintings with Machs - "Twins on the balcony", "Paseo de Andalusia", "Manola (La Leocadia)", "Comet"as well as numerous graphics.

The version that the Duchess of Alba posed for Diptich with a dressed and naked Machs is faced with several contradictions, as the researchers of the artist’s work recognize. The main one is that the face of the Duchess, as we know from portraits, does not have a corny one does not coincide with the appearance of the swing. In particular, the unknown naked looks younger, although both of them are brown -eyed curly brunettes. “The widespread assumption that Goya rewrote her head in order to hide the true features of her face was refuted by the recent X -ray picture, which shows that the whole body was written immediately and there are no noticeable changes in the figure,” - reports Prado catalog.

The second problem is in the extremely high social situation of the Duchess of Alba (by the way, she inherited her title from her grandfather, and did not acquire due to marriage). Positioning for the portrait in a completely naked form, and with such an indecent detail as pubic hair, would be an incredibly shocking act for such a high -ranking aristocrat. It is one thing - a sketch with a pencil in the album, another is a large -format picture. Portraits "in the image of Venus" were indeed widespread in European art, but the peak of their popularity Came on the XVII and the first half of the 18th century. In the image of the goddess of love, mostly French aristocrats posed mainly, but even among them few dared to appear completely naked - noble ladies were written in “Tunics”. When in 1808 the sister of the French emperor Polina Bonaparte was depicted by the sculptor Kanovo in Venus the Winter Half -Ned, this turned out scandal. In the XIX century, for portraits in the image of Venus, only the ladies of the half -light will pose mainly, Curtains.

The third problem is that the Duchess is the Spanish aristocrat, and Goya is a Spanish artist. In Spain, unlike Italy, France or the Netherlands, due to the control of the church It existed Colossal taboo on the image of naked nature. None of the Spanish artists, starting with the Renaissance, dared to write it under pain of excommunication, fine or exile. At the same time, the Spanish kings bought the work of foreign painters, for example Titian and Rubens, but they did not show them publicly. Paintings Store In special rooms in the royal palaces, the so -called Salas Reservadas, where the monarchs were deleted to "rest". Only special guests could see masterpieces in these rooms. Salas Reservadas had been preserved in aristocratic Spain for more than two centuries, until 1838. And the first (apparently, for many years the only) Spanish artist who wrote a naked woman was Diego Velazquez, who created about 1647–1651 "Venus with a mirror". And then, most likely, he did this while in relaxed Italy. Another rare exception is the successor of Velazquez as the court portrait painter Juan Carreno de Miranda, who around 1680 created Diptych with the same concept as Goya, was an image dressed And undressed women. However, this double portrait of Eukhenia Martinez Valehi, probably known to the author, “Mach”, portrayed not a beauty, but a court dwarf, a “monster”, and therefore passed through the category of not erotica, but “curios”.

It is believed that it is precisely because of this legislative Catholic hypocrisy "Mach" two: at first Naked (1795–1800) was written, and ThenA few years later, a dressed (1800–1807) so that it can be used as a “cover”. With a similar, protective goal for its "origin" of the world "Courbet wrote Landscape with a village church. By the way, according to the effect that the “naked Mach” produced on the Spanish society during the time of Goya, it can be compared with the scandalous picture of Kurba.

The Salas Reservadas concept is important for the story of "Mahi Naked", because for the first time this picture Mentioned In 1800, in the description of just such an “intimate” room (El Gabinete Reservado). Just not the royal, but belonging Manuel by the year - The all -powerful favorite, in fact then managing Spain. In addition to the two “max” (by the way, then they were called “Venus”), the same legendary “Venus with a mirror” of Velazquez and two other naked, attributed to Titian, hung there. Goya for the year worked a lot: in 1794 he wrote Its equestrian portrait, in 1801-a ceremonial portrait in general form, and in 1800 captured His wife, Countess Chinchon.

Biographer Goya Richard Shikel He emphasizesthat it was the year “was a rather influential person to neglect an ancient ban on portraying a naked body” and making such a secret order Goye. But the Duchess of Alba, who was attended with the royal court, could not have risked the author of such a dangerous picture, giving such an order.

In the novel by Feikhtwanger, the Duchess speaks Goye: “I want to order you, Don Francisco, two of my portraits, one in a suit of a swing, the other in the form of a swing, as it is.” This is the fiction of the writer. There are no evidence that the Duchess ordered these two paintings. Moreover, it is difficult to imagine a situation in which a woman would do this based on the realities of time. On the contrary, for the life -lifetime and known to Manuel, such an order, with the aim of decorating personal, male chambers, looks natural. He hunted for nude: it is known that the mentioned “Venus with a mirror” of Velazquez at that time (until 1800) was sold The annoy of his owner is the same Duchess of Alba. Finally, the son of the artist Javier Goya around 1830 indicatedthat the father wrote for the year “Venus”.

Dictionary of artists' Models gives a rumor that the Duchess of Alba and Godda were lovers, but this Not very believable: The Duchess was the enemy of the queen - the patroness and, presumably, the mistresses of the year, to whom he owed his power. God would not order an Alba portrait, including because this would insult the queen. Yes, and Goya with his difficult character would not write a portrait of a woman in whom he, apparently, was in love with her new gentleman.

In the English version of the article about “Maha Naked” on the official website of the Prado Museum reported: "The legend says that this is the Duchess of Alba, but the model was also identified as Pepita Tudo, who became the mistress of the year in 1797." Josefa de Tudo (1779–1869) was the daughter of a provincial nobleman, she remained the official favorite of the year for many years, despite his numerous mistresses and the official spouse, Countess de Chinchon. At the request of her lover, the king granted her the count's title. Tudo gave birth to two children by one, and at the beginning of 1829, after he was widowed, they got married.

Reliable portraits of Tudo are made by artists of the second row and cannot serve to identify the “swing”. But on them, at least, it is clear that she was also a brunette with the right features of her face. The version that Tudo posed for Mach also arose In the XIX century (it is in the Prado catalog of 1872), but it has gained less popularity. There is no evidence that Tudo is depicted in the picture, although from the point of view of its frivolous position in the late 1790s it looks much more believable. In addition, Tudo was about 18 years old during the spelling of “Maha Naked”, and the duchess was already under 40 and it is seriously I was sick, the body on the canvas is young.

Because of the Napoleonic wars, God fell, and then the Inquisition reached its indecent collection of "Nude". Velazquez managed to take out the British, but “Twins” on November 28, 1814 were transferred At the disposal of the tribunal of the Inquisition, where they remained until 1836. On the Web on this occasion writethat Goya allegedly declared in court: "I do not reveal who was a model of the picture, because the scandal would be much more." But this is just another legend. In fact, March 16, 1815, the Secret Chamber of the Inquisition Madrid disposedSo that Goya, as the author of one of the five obscene paintings from this collection, “appeared before this tribunal so that he could recognize them (paintings. - Approx. Ed.) And to announce whether they were his work, why he made them, by whose assignment, for whom and what purposes they were intended.” However, no subsequent documents related to this story as Report Researchers have not been preserved, it is not even known whether Goya gave any evidence in general on this subject.

There is also a statement on the network that in 1945, in order to refute the version of the duchess posing for a “indecent picture”, the then Duke of Alba ordered her tomb to open her to measure the ducal bones and prove that her proportions (and bone length) do not coincide with the proportions of the “swing”. But since the grave was already opened, and the Duchess's body was thrown out by the Napoleonic soldiers, it was not possible to take measurements in its current state (the long bones were broken). However, historians of medicine Reportthat the duke gave his assignment not because of the picture, but in order to refute the accusation that his relative was poisoned by Queen Spain. The bones of the legs really turned out to be damaged, but for another reason: already initially the coffin turned out to be short, and the body drank his feet so that it climbed into it.

Louis Garcia Gomez in her article 2014 reports that although on April 17, 1945 the grave was really opened, the remains were found in a state acceptable for the examination. Three doctors who examined the bones of the Duchess found that she had transferred the serious deformation of the spine (scoliosis) from the right side, which was due to which her right shoulder should have seemed higher-it was obvious, that is why Goya wrote her a half-broth in two midnight portraits. Both “max” with shoulders, on the contrary, are all right, but they have an abnormally wide distance between the breasts and an abnormal disproportion between the waist and the length of the legs, like Writes Arthur Lundquist.

How summarizes Researcher Marie Louise Kramrain in the 1994 article: “There is no evidence that the picture has ever belonged to the Duchess of Alba, and even less evidence that they portray her.” Modern researchers believe that, most likely, Diptych with Machs was created for Manuel Godoy to replenish his collection of frivolous painting. Perhaps the model for the swing was his mistress of Pepito Tudo or any other young girl of a dubious social status who was not afraid to pose naked. Or its appearance was created by Goya from the head by connecting the images of several women. The official position of Prado at the moment is not to indicate any exact names of the model.

Most likely not true

What do our verdicts mean?

Read on the topic:

1. J. Tomlison (ed.). Goya: Images of Women
2. I. Shank. How Spain’s Kings Hid Thousands of Nude Paintings from the Catholic Church
3. La autopsia de la doquesa de alba