by Tim McNeese
hisstatusasarespectedpaintertothecourt,onlytobecome
“avirtualoutcast.”79 Then,inJanuary1793,Goyawrotealet-
tertotheaccountantofthedukeandduchessofOsuna.Init,
theartistexplainsthathehasbeenbedriddenfortwomonths.
Hehasbeendizzyandhasexperiencedsomepartialparaly-
sis. What was the disease or condition Goya was suffering
from?Atthetime,therumorwasthatGoyahadcontracteda
sexuallytransmitteddisease.Thatprovednottobethecase,
88
FRANCISCO GOyA
Goya’s 1795 portrait of his friend, the duchess of Alba, is recognized as
one of his most famous paintings. Goya concentrates his color palette to
the repeating dual themes of red and white, with the only other promi-
nent color in the portrait being the subject’s long mane of black hair.
The duchess was the subject of numerous works by Goya.
A Disturbing Turn of Events
89
however. Doctors today believe he may have been suffering
from the effects of some type of meningitis. He might have
been experiencing a condition that inflames the nerves of
theinnerear.Hisillnessmightalsohavebeenbroughtonby
Vogt-Koyanagi-Haradasyndrome,arareformofeyedisease.
One of its symptoms is hearing loss. Whatever Goya had
contracted, it was quite bothersome and alarming. In a let-
terfromZapatertoSebastianMartinez,anartdealer,Goya’s
friendnotes,“Astheillnessisofthemostfearsomenature,it
makesmemelancholythinkingofhisrecuperation.”80 (Goya
hadpaintedapensiveportraitofMartinezin1792.)
Theillnesslastedformostofayear,andformostofthat
time,Goyawasnearlyparalyzed.Throughthosemonths,Goya
was almost in constant pain and chronically tired. In addi-
tion,hewaslosinghishearing.Hefearedhemightgoblind,
whichwouldhavebroughthisartcareertoasadandabrupt
end.ByFebruary1794,hisoldfriendJovellanosnotedinhis
diary that Goya had not even been able to write a response
duetohis“apoplexy.” Alaterwriterwouldstarklynote,“One
of the charming artists of the 18th Century was expiring.”81
Death, however, was not the disease’s consequence. In time,
the paralysis passed. Goya did not become blind. Yet one
symptomremained.Fortherestofhislife,morethan30years,
FranciscoGoyawastotallydeaf.Theonlysoundshewascon-
sciousof“werefrightful,unearthlybuzzingscapableofdriving
himclosetomadness.”82
a sOUNDLess WOrLD
What was Goya to do with this change in his physical abili-
ties?Goyadidtheonlythinghecoulddo:hesimplycontinued
working,choosingtoignorehisnewcondition.Evenbysum-
mer1793,hefoundtheoccasionalenergytopaintandtravel,
including attending a meeting of the Royal Academy of San
FernandoinMadrid.Thatsummerhebeganpaintingaseries
of 11 small paintings, which he referred to as “cabinet pic-
tures,”selectingsubjectmatterthatgenerally“findnoplacein
90
FRANCISCO GOyA
commissionedworks.”83 Hepaintedthemjustasadistraction
fromhisillnessanditsaccompanyingpain.Theyweresmall,
approximately16by12inches(40cmby30cm),paintedontin-
coatedironsheets.
When they were shown to the Academy, the members
were excited, “celebrating their merit and that of Goya.”84
Theywere,indeed,subjectsoffthebeatenpath.Althoughnot
allthepaintingsareknown,itappearstheymayhaveincluded
“people fleeing from a fire at night, the survivors of a ship-
wreckstrugglingtoshore,and,recapitulatinghisbigdecora-
tivepanelfortheOsunas,theholdupofacoachbyrobbers.”85
Another painting probably portrayed life inside a Spanish
prison and another, referred to in the academy’s minutes of
January 5, 1794, portrayed the inmates in an insane asylum
beingwhippedbytheirguard.Goyawouldlatersaythatthe
Madhousepicturedepicted“acorralofmadmenandtwowho
arefighting,nude,withtheirkeeperbeatingthemandothers
with sacks (a subject which I witnessed in Saragossa).”86 All
theotherpaintingsappeartohavebeenbullfightpictures.
With war raging between France and Spain, it is not
surprisingthatGoyawouldreceiveapairofcommissionsin
1793topaintmilitaryportraits.OnewasofaSpanishgeneral,
AntonioRicardos,wholosthislifefightingthefollowingyear,
and Lieutenant Colonel Felix Colon de Larreategui, whose
family had connections with Cabarrus. Another portrait
was done of Ramon Posado y Soto, a relative of Jovellanos’s
brother-in-law.Inaletter,thesubjectmentionsthatGoyais
totallydeaf.
reVOLUtiONarY CHaNGe
The following year, the French Revolution took a decided
turn, one that allowed the Spanish court to breathe a sigh of
relief. After experiencing nightmare months of the Reign of
Terror,duringwhichthousandsofFrenchsubjectswerekilled,
counterrevolutionaries had finally turned on the revolution
anditsexcesses.Inmid-summer1794,therevolution’sleader,
A Disturbing Turn of Events
91
Maximilien Robespierre, was arrested, hastily tried and con-
victed, and then guillotined. For the moment, the terror of
theFrenchRevolutionwasover.Thischangeineventshelped
alleviatesomeofthepoliticaltensionthathadgrippedMadrid
foryears.OneofthebenefactorsofthechangewasGoya.New
commissionscametohim,includingthosefromnewpatrons,
manyofwhomwerefriendsofearliersupportersofGoya’sart.
OneofJovellanos’sassociates,thecountofElCarpio(adirec-
toroftheNationalBankofSanCarlos),offeredGoyaacom-
missiontopainthisyoungerwife,themarquisedelaSolana.
The painting stands as a tribute to the benevolence and
kindnessofthe33-year-oldmarquise.Shewasknownforher
charities,especiallyanorphanageshesupported.Itisasimple
workofanapparentlysimplewoman.Sheisnotanextraor-
dinarybeauty:thenoseistoolargeandtheeyestoofarapart.
Yetherfacehasakindnessaboutit.Theportraitwaspainted
full-length, the painting’s lower half presenting a featureless
black skirt and petticoats. Her head is framed with a white
laceshawltoppedbyanoverlylargepeach-coloredbowthat
immediatelydrawstheattentionoftheviewer.Eventhen,one
returns to the soft eyes of the marquise. Goya has captured
notonlyhissubject’sotherwiseunremarkablefeatures,buthe
hasproducedaworkthatrevealshergenerousheartandself-
less support of the unfortunate. Soon after the painting was
compl
eted,themarquisedied.IfGoyahadknownhissubject
wasterminal,hemayhavebeenevenmoreinspiredtomakeit
clearthatheadmiredthemarquiseforherspiritedcourage.
By1795,thewarbetweentheFrenchandSpanishwasover.
That summer, the two warring powers, along with Prussia,
signed the Treaty of Basel. During the following months,
the skies opened up for Goya’s formerly suspect friends:
Floridablancawasabsolvedofallaccusations,Jovellanoswas
pardoned, and Cabarrus, after years of imprisonment, was
freed.(Amazingly,thequeen’sfavorite,PrimeMinisterGodoy,
receivedthetitleofPrinceofthePeace.)Goyabenefitedfrom
thisturninthefortunesofhisoldfriends.Hewassoonasked
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FRANCISCO GOyA
to paint one of his most famous paintings, a portrait of the
duchessofAlba.
tHe DUCHess OF aLBa
Theduchesswas,perhaps,oneofthemostbeautifulandallur-
ing women in all of Spain. Nearly every man who had ever
met her thought so, and some actually wrote poetry about
herbeauty.Shewasslender,withasmallwaistandtallerthan
manywomenofherday.Herfacialfeatureswerealluring,with
highcheekbones,darkeyes,andaslipofabowforamouth.
Were tHe DUCHess OF aLBa aND
GOYa LOVers?
During Goya’s lifetime and even through the centuries since,
rumors abounded that the artist and his most beautiful of sub-
jects became romantically involved with one another. Were the
rumors true?
It is known that when Goya painted his first portrait of the
duchess of Alba, they may have met in earlier years. There is a
story that Goya included her in a couple of his earlier tapestry
cartoons. Even so, his playful inclusion of this Spanish beauty
does not automatically translate in the two being lovers.
How likely was such a relationship anyway? The duchess
was flirty, and affairs appear to have been normal for her. Her
husband, the duke, was not known as a virile man, as may be
noted in the portrait Goya painted of him. He appears thin, shy,
and sensitive, “the antithesis of the ideal Spanish male.”* It is
no wonder that so many men thought they might have had a
chance for a relationship with the duchess. yet what of Goya,
who was almost 50 years old and deaf when he painted her
first portrait? That Goya might have become infatuated with the
duchess is entirely possible. Also, she might have been flattered
by having the most celebrated painter in Spain rendering her
portrait. yet the record is silent.
A Disturbing Turn of Events
93
Herheavyeyebrowsweremadelesspronouncedbyherhair,
amassivecollectionofthick,darktressesthatframedherlight
skin.(ThereisanIndianinkwashdonebyGoyain1797titled
The Duchess of Alba Arranging Her Hair.) A French admirer
noted:“TheDuchessofAlbahasnotahaironherheadthat
doesnotprovokedesire.Whenshepasseseveryonelooksfrom
theirwindowsandevenchildrenleavetheirgamestolookat
her.”87Shewasgraceful,awonderfuldancer,withatastefor
theseguidillas(thecommon,earthysongsthatGoyasayshe
renounced) and fandangos, the animated, sometimes sweaty
Complicating the question is the death of the duke not
long after the duchess’s portrait was completed. Following his
death, Goya visited the duchess in Sanlucar de Barrameda.
While there, from May to July 1796, he was busy with official
commissions. Goya also drew sketches in what is known today
as the Sanlucar Notebook. His sketches include two or three
of the duchess. He painted another wonderful portrait of her
in 1797. While the earlier portrait became known popularly
as the “White Duchess,” Goya’s 1797 portrait would be called
the “Black Duchess,” since she was attired in a black mourn-
ing dress due to her husband’s death. All this—the additional
portrait and sketches and the shared experiences—probably
means little more than that these two were simply friends:
“There is no good reason to suppose that the beauty was ever
in bed with the deaf genius twice her age.”**
The duchess would not live long after her husband died. She
died of tuberculosis at the age of 40.
* Quoted in richard schickel, The World of Goya, 1746–1828
(new York: Time-Life Books, 1968), 100.
** Quoted in robert hughes, Goya (new York: alfred a. Knopf, 2003), 159.
94
FRANCISCO GOyA
dance that would bridge popularity from the eighteenth to
the nineteenth centuries. Despite being a member of Spain’s
aristocraticclass,theduchesslovedtodressinthecostumeof
amaja,whichmightprovideacontextforhermorespirited
nature.Shehadmanyloveaffairs,yetforallherphysicaland
unrestrainedqualitiesandattributesthatmenseemedtofind
so appealing, she may have been an airhead. Yet she was a
beautifulandwealthyairhead,whose“wealthwasimmeasur-
able—seventeenpalacesormansionsandsuchtractsofland
thatpeoplethoughtshecouldwalkthelengthofSpainwithout
steppingoffherestates.”88
Goya’s painting of the duchess of Alba in 1795 (there
would be others later) presents her from head to toe, a full-
lengthpresentationofherexquisitebeauty.Sheisdressedin
a full-length white gown with dashes of vermillion, comple-
mented by a wide waist sash, bows at her bosom and in her
hair,andatwo-strandnecklaceofredbaubles.Exceptforthe
strongbitsofredcolor,theduchessblendswellagainstaback-
dropofgreenish-yellowmountainsandasea-greensky.Her
dress almost disappears into the same-colored, sandy land-
scape of the painting’s bottom half. (The backgrounds Goya
includedinthispaintingaresignificant,sincethismaybethe
artist’s“firsttimetoplacehismodelinanactuallandscape.”89
Sheistallandbeautiful,yetaloof.
War aGaiN FOr spaiN
AlthoughGodoywascreditedwithgettingSpainthroughits
warwithFranceby1795,thefollowingyearbroughtarenewal
ofconflictandofallies.WithEnglandstillatwarwithFrance,
theSpanishmonarchywascompelledtojoinwiththeFrench
againsttheBritishbyautumn1796.Godoy’sstarwasgrowing
dimmer. The queen, tired of Godoy’s outside female inter-
ests,forcedhimtomarryacousinofCarlosIV.Godoysoon
soughtthesupportofsuchliberalsasCabarrus,whichresulted
in the appointment of Jovellanos as the minister of justice.
Other old friends of Goya’s gained influential government
A Disturbing Turn of Events
95
appointments,includingthenewministersofagricultureand
finance.Goyawouldpaintthem.HisrenderingofJovellanos
was of a man who was “ele
gant, distinguished, a dreamer
weigheddownbycares,ahintofbenevolenceinhiseyes.”90
Furtherpressures,mostlyfromadomineeringFrance,cameto
bearonGodoy,whowasforcedtoresignhispost.
By spring 1798, Goya received a commission from the
QueenMariaLuisatoprovidepaintingsfortheroyalchapel
ofSanAntoniodelaFlorida.Sincethe1600s,thesmallshrine
ofSanAntonio(St.Anthony)wassituatedonthegroundof
laFlorida,nexttotheparkoftheroyalpalace.CarlosIVand
Maria Luisa purchased the land and replaced the old shrine
with a new chapel, San Antonio de la Florida. In decorating
the chapel, a 52-year-old, deaf Goya had scaffolding erected
so he could paint the chapel’s dome. He spent four months
ontheproject,fromAugustthroughNovember.Itwouldbea
masterpieceofmodernart.
a NeW FresCO
Thepaintingonthedomewastitled The Miracle of San Antonio
of Padua.GoyabasedhisworkonalegendfromthelifeofSt.
Anthony.Inthestory,thefuturesaintreceiveswordthathis
Portuguese father has been falsely accused of murdering a
man in Lisbon. Instantly, Anthony is transported to Lisbon
and requests the magistrate to present him with the murder
victim’sbody.Thenheunflinchinglyasksthecorpsetoriseup
andtestifywhetherhisfatherwasthemurderer.Tothecourt’s
surprise,thedeadvictimdoesjustthat,informingtheaston-
ished judges that Anthony’s father was innocent. Then the
bodyfallsbackinitscoffin,onceagaindeadasdeadcanbe.
Thisdramaticscenewastranslatedevenmoredramatically
by Goya’s composition, which had to fit into a large round
dome.Hisideawasnotnew.Hechosetopaintafalsebalcony
balustradearoundtheentiredomebasewithmorethanfour
dozenpeoplestandingbehindit,witnessingthegreatmiracle
of St. Anthony. The same technique had been done in Italy
96
FRANCISCO GOyA
This detail from Goya’s The Miracle of San Antonio of Padua, shows St.
Anthony preaching to an attentive crowd. The painting adorns the dome of
the chapel of San Antonio de la Florida in Madrid. Note the simple wooden
railing created by Goya as a false balcony for the composition.