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María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo, 13th Duchess of Alba
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María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva Alvarez de Toledo y Silva Bazán, 13th Duchess of Alba (June 10, 1762 – July 23, 1802) was a Spanish aristocrat and popular subject of the painter, Francisco de Goya y Lucientes.
Biography
María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva Alvarez de Toledo became the 13th Duchess of Alba (one of the oldest and most influential noble houses in Spain) in the year 1776. Her marriage to José María Alvarez de Toledo y Gonzaga, 15th Duke of Medina-Sidonia made her and her husband the wealthiest couple in the Kingdom of Spain; their only rivals to this title were the House of Osuna.
Mourning Portrait of the Duchess of Alba by Francisco Goya, 1797. Alternately known as the The Black Duchess, painted in 1797, the subject is shown pointing to the ground where the words solo Goya (only Goya) are clearly visible.
The Duchess' relationship with famed Spanish painter Francisco Goya and her somewhat excentric personality have contributed greatly to a continuing interest in her life during the two centuries since her death. Goya executed several well known portraits of the duchess, most of them during his stay at Sanlúcar la Mayor (the Andalusian country seat of the House of Alba), shortly after the death of her husband, the Duke of Medina-Sidonia, in 1796.
Goya's accompaniment of the recently widowed Duchess combined with certain innuendo expressed in his portraits of her have exacerbated rumors that the two were lovers.[1] Although this has never been confirmed, the sheer number of portraits the artist painted of the Duchess certainly suggests, at the very least, a close platonic relationship between the two.
The painting La maja desnuda executed between the years 1797 and 1800 by Goya has also been rumored to portray her. The painting, considered scandalous by Spanish society of the time, depicts a fully nude reclining woman. It, together with a companion piece depicting the same model clothed, La maja vestida, was commissioned by Spanish Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy (the known lover of Spain's queen, María Luisa).
The true identity of the Majas is uncertain. Many art historians over the years have rejected the possibility that the painting depicts the duchess, including most recently Australian art critic Robert Hughes in his 2003 biography, Goya. Those scholars believe that the painting depicts either Godoy's young mistress or an idealized composite of several different models.[2]
Death and Succesion
The Duchess died under somewhat mysterious circumstances in July 1802 at the age of 40. Although her death was ostensibly due to tuberculosis and a fever more colorful scenarios have been suggested over the years, including that she was poisoned. She had no biological issue although she did have an adoptive daughter, known as María de la Luz.
After her death, the title Duke of Alba passed to a relative, Carlos Miguel Fitz-James Stuart (1794-1835), who became the 14th Duke of Alba.
The Duchess and la Beata by Goya, 1795
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The Duchess arranging her hair, a sketch by Goya
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References
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