On-line gallery
- Reference number
- P07020
- Author
- Goya y Lucientes, Francisco de (Spanish)
- Title
- The Duchess of Alba and her Duenna
- Chronology
- 1795
- Technique
- Support
- Measures
- 30 cm x 25 cm
- School
- Theme
- Shown
- Yes
- Entrance
- COMPRA
- Procedence
- Acquisition, 1985
The lively, somewhat childish
character of Cayetana, the Duchess
of Alba, is reflected in this
little canvas. Her back is turned
to the viewer, but she is
recognizable by her abundantly
curly black hair. She plays at
frightening her duenna, Rafaela
Luisa Velázquez, known as “la
Beata” (“the Sanctimonious”). The
Duchess shows the old woman a coral
charm of the sort designed to ward
off the evil eye. The latter, in
turn, protects herself with a
cross, as if it were the devil
himself.
This work is signed and dated with
incisions at the lower right.
Location on the map
