The Naked Maja (1958) - IMDb IMDb There was an error trying to load your rating for this title. Some parts of this page won't work property. Please reload or try later. X Beta I'm Watching This! Keep track of everything you watch; tell your friends. Error Love takes precedence over art and politics as Spanish painter Goya pines for an aloof duchess. Director: a list of 9998 titles created 26 Jun 2012 a list of 35 titles created 04 Nov 2012 a list of 487 titles created 26 Nov 2012 a list of 239 titles created 05 Dec 2015 a list of 51 titles created 5 months ago Title: The Naked Maja (1958) 5.5/10 Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below. You must be a registered user to use the IMDb rating plugin. 1 win & 3 nominations. See more awards » Photos A clergyman leaves the priesthood over the church's indifferent position during the Spanish Civil War but finds himself attracted to a beautiful entertainer.

Director: Nunnally Johnson Three people, Susan and Philip Ashlow and Henry Brittingham-Brett are washed ashore on a deserted island after a shipwreck. Henry is Susan's lover. Since the island is filled with things to... See full summary » Director: Mark Robson King Arthur's rule is threatened by the adulterous love between Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere, a relationship the king's enemies hope to exploit. Director: Richard Thorpe A young man plots revenge against the woman he believes murdered his cousin, but his plans are shaken when he comes face to face with the enigmatic beauty. Director: Henry Koster Anglo-Indian Victoria Jones seeks her true identity amid the chaos of the British withdrawal from India. Director: George Cukor Angie Rossini is an innocent (Italian Catholic) Macy's salesgirl, who discovers she's pregnant from a fling with Rocky, a musician. Angie finds Rocky (who doesn't remember her at first) to ... See full summary » Director: Robert Mulligan A seductive woman falls in love with a mysterious ship's captain. Director: Albert Lewin Ex-President Andrew Jackson sends Texan Devereaux Burke back home on a mission to facilitate Sam Houston's drive for U.S.

statehood. Director: Vincent Sherman Fantasy comedy about a young window dresser who kisses a statue of Venus, which then comes to life in the form of Ava Gardner. The problems begin, however, when Venus falls in love with him. Directors: William A. Seiter, Gregory La Cava Stars: Robert Walker, Ava Gardner, Dick Haymes Two outlaws, Rio and Esqueda, raised together as step-brothers, have a showdown over the issue of whether to evict new settlers from their territory. Director: John Farrow A vain businessman puts strains on his happy marriage to a rich, beautiful socialite by allowing himself be be seduced by a former girlfriend. Director: Mervyn LeRoy A group of disillusioned American expatriate writers live a dissolute, hedonistic lifestyle in 1920's France and Spain. Director: Henry King Now she is yours...the matchless...the shameless beauty who lives forever as The Naked Maja! See more » Genres: 20 December 1958 (Italy) See more » Also Known As: Die nackte Maja See more » Filming Locations: Did You Know?

Trivia The Nude Maja was the first in a two painting series, the second of which was The Clothed Maja, respectively. It is said to be the first painting in which female pubic hair is visible, making it totally profane at the time. In 1813, the Spanish Inquisition confiscated both of the paintings as obscene, returning them to the Academy of Fine Arts in 1936, after Goya's death. See more » Connections (Mouse Town, USA) – See all my reviews I just happened onto this film, playing on a local broadcast digital TV channel (The Works), and am glad that I did. I had never seen this film before or heard of it, but have always loved the art of Goya. This movie made me want to go look up his complete life story, and of the Duchess (the part played by Ava Gardner). Just saw a scene where Goya (Anthony Franciosa) is painting in a field, and Maria (Ava) is with him, and some soldiers on horseback are riding by. The captain comes to greet Maria, and when they leave Goya voices his displeasure about 'war-making', etc.

This scene reminded me of the one in 'Immortal Beloved' (movie about Beethoven with Gary Oldman) where Napoleon's army is attacking nearby... and how, through history, some of the greatest works of music, art, etc., are created during times of great unrest and horrific wars. Maybe this is the 'balance' that helps maintain the human world, and all our collective sanity? Anyways, the scenes, costumes, music, and especially Ava, are all so very, very beautiful! 2 of 2 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes La Maja Desnuda by Francisco Goya – Facts & History of the Painting Complete Works La Maja Desnuda is an oils on canvas painting by the Spanish painter, Francisco Goya. It is quite large, measuring 38 by 75 inches. The painting was acquired by the Museo del Prado in Madrid in 1910, and remains there to this day. It is not known when exactly Goya did the painting, but most estimates date it between 1797 and 1800, although some date it as early as 1792.

Composition La Maja Desnuda translates into English as “the naked mistress” or “the nude mistress.” As the name suggests, the subject of the painting is a naked female. She is depicted lying seductively on a couch. Her two arms are raised, with her hands behind her head, she has a slight smile, and her two cheeks are noticeably rosy. Her body is tilted towards the viewer. The painting is somewhat unusual in that her pubic hair is depicted. In most western classical paintings up to that time, pubic hair was not to be shown. All the lighting focus of the painting is on the nude herself and the surface of the couch. The background to the painting is mainly dark and shows no other objects other than a plain wall. History of the painting The first recorded owner of the painting was the then Spanish prime minister, Manuel de Godoy, giving rise to unfounded speculation that the subject may have been his mistress. Goya was brought before the Spanish Inquisition in 1815. The Inquisition felt the painting was immoral and they tried to determine who had commissioned the artist to do the nude painting from Goya. The result of their inquiry is unknown.

Second Version Goya painted a nearly identical work called La Maja Vestida, which translates as “the clothed maja.” It is almost an exact copy of La Maja Desnuda, the principal difference being that in La Maja Vestida, the barefoot subject is fully clothed. The second version is also in the Museo del Prado, and the two paintings are usually displayed side by side. 5 responses to “La Maja Desnuda” Nicola Cuti The Naked Maja - Francisco de Goya Paintings The Naked Maja We offer original aspect ratio sizes Price 36 X 72 in $600.95 If listed sizes are not in proportion to the original, don't worry, just choose which size is similar to what you want, we can offer oil paintings in a suitable size, painted in proportion to the original. If you would like the standard size, please let us know. Need a Custom Size? circa 1798-1805 Museo Nacional del Prado , Madrid, Spain.

Apart from the 'Toilet of Venus' ("The Rokeby Venus") by Velasquez, the 'Naked Maja' is one of the few surviving female nudes in Spanish painting. Why settle for a paper print when you can add sophistication to your rooms with a high quality 100% hand-painted oil painting on canvas at wholesale price? Order this beautiful oil painting today! that's a great way to impress friends, neighbors and clients alike. 100% hand-painted oil painting on artist grade canvas. No printing or digital imaging techniques are used. In stock items ship immediately, usually ships in 3 to 10 days. $12.95 shipping charge for small size (e.g., size <= 20 x 24 in). The cheapest shipping rate from DHL, UPS, USPS, etc. Canvas stretched on wood bars for free. - Need special frame for oil painting? Please contact us. Send you a digital copy via email for your approval before shipping. 45-day Satisfaction Guaranteed and 100% Satisfaction Guaranteed. Add The Naked Maja to Your Privete Lists You are not signed in. Select here to add this item to your default List.

To create a new List, use the "new Wish List" option below. Default List Data successfully added to your Wish List ! Be the first to critique this painting . Critique this Painting Your critique is viewable immediately by the public. Your Nickname: PaintingMania.com reserves the right to edit or remove inappropriate critiques. Other paintings by Francisco de Goya: The Meadow of San Isidro The Milkmaid of Bordeaux more... Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (b. March 30, 1746, Fuendetodos, Spain--d. April 16, 1828, Bordeaux, Fr.), consummately Spanish artist whose multifarious paintings, drawings, and engravings reflected contemporary historical upheavals and influenced important 19th- and 20th-century painters. Like Velazquez, Goya was a Spanish court painter whose best work was done apart from his official duties. He is known for his scenes of violence, especially those prompted by the French invasion of Spain. The series of etchings Los desastres de la guerra ("The Disasters of War", 1810-14) records the horrors of the Napoleonic invasion.

His masterpieces in painting include The Naked Maja and The Clothed Maja (c. 1800-05). He also painted charming portraits such as Senora Sabasa Garcia. For the bold technique of his paintings, the haunting satire of his etchings, and his belief that the artist's vision is more important than tradition, Goya is often called "the first of the moderns." His uncompromising portrayal of his times marks the beginning of 19th-century realism. YOUR BROWSING HISTORY The Naked Maja Remind Me The Naked Maja The title of the film The Naked Maja (1958) refers to a famous painting by Spanish artist Francisco Goya (1746 -1828) of a brunette beauty reclining nude with her hands behind her head. Its twin, the Clothed Maja, shows the same woman in an identical pose, but dressed in a clingy, diaphanous white garment and embroidered jacket.

Some art historians believe the model for the paintings was the Duchess of Alba, a flamboyant beauty, egalitarian aristocrat and freethinker whose marriage posed no threat to her vigorous extra-curricular love life, and who may have been Goya's mistress. Others identify the model as the mistress of Manuel Godoy, prime minister under Goya's patron, King Carlos IV. Set against the turbulent background of the Inquisition and Spain's war with France, The Naked Maja is a heavily fictionalized account of Goya's career, and his relationship with the legendary Duchess. Sumptuously produced and lushly photographed in color by the great Giuseppe Rotunno, the film was shot in Italy with an Italian cast, because the puritanical Franco government and the descendants of the Duchess objected to its scandalous subject matter and would not permit it to be made in Spain. Ava Gardner was perfectly cast as the unconventional Alba. One of MGM's top stars throughout the 1950s, she had grown tired of the Hollywood scene, especially during her tempestuous marriage to Frank Sinatra.

When they broke up, she moved to Spain to get away from the media scrutiny and had become an aficionada of all things Spanish - bullfights, flamenco dancing, and Spanish art and music. Gardner was initially enthusiastic about playing the Duchess, especially when the film was to be shot in Spain. When those plans changed, Gardner decided to go ahead with the film because it would be her last film under her MGM contract (the studio was distributing, but not producing the film). The Naked Maja would also be Gardner's first film since she had injured her face in a drunken accident while bullfighting on horseback. The damage was barely visible by the time filming began, but Gardner's face was her fortune, and she was nervous and self-conscious about how she would look in the film. Thanks to Rotunno, she looked as gorgeous as ever. Rotunno also shot Gardner's next film, the critically acclaimed On the Beach (1959). Gardner's apprehension only increased when she met her Naked Maja co-star Anthony Franciosa, who was playing Goya. A New York Method actor, his way of working was much different than Gardner's untrained, instinctive one.

In her posthumously-published memoirs, Gardner recalled, "The lights would be set, the cast would be standing in front of the camera waiting for Tony to start the scene, and he'd be standing off to the side, carrying on as if he were choking to death and nearly vomiting before he would come on." An added irritant was Franciosa's wife at the time, Shelley Winters, who was convinced that Gardner was after her husband, and that the two were having an affair - a charge both Gardner and Franciosa denied. So did director Henry Koster, who claimed, "Franciosa and Ava hated each other. They used to sulk in separate dressing rooms between scenes, refusing to speak to each other." Koster, a veteran who had directed everything from Deanna Durbin musicals in the 1930s to biblical epics such as The Robe (1953), called The Naked Maja "one of the most torturing experiences I had in my time of making pictures.... I walked off the picture a couple of times." Not only was he working with difficult stars, he also had a predominantly Italian cast who "spoke the dialogue in broken English," and who were later dubbed by American actors.

Norman Corwin's original screenplay was rewritten by Giorgio Prosperi, with uncredited rewrites by Albert Lewin and by Koster himself. Koster claims that with rewrites, shooting, and post-production, he spent a year in Italy working on the film. The critics acknowledged The Naked Maja's superb production values and some of the performances, but were brutal about the screenplay. "The costumes are colorful, the backgrounds seem authentic, and the dancing is fiery. The Naked Maja is often visually exciting and action, when it does occur, captures the interest. But for the most part [the film] just drags on, a maze of pompous dialog and muddled emotions that seldom ring true," according to Variety. "May be the most inept movie biography since Cecil B. DeMille tore Cleopatra from the pages of history," sneered Time. Despite the title, there is no nudity nor any steamy bedroom scenes between Franciosa and Gardner. Still, The Naked Maja became the unlikely center of an anti-pornography campaign by the U.S. Post Office.

In March of 1959, as part of the film's publicity campaign, United Artists sent out a few thousand postcard reproductions of Goya's eponymous painting to members of the press. The Post Office took one look and seized the postcards as obscene. United Artists, jumping on the publicity opportunity, fought the case, and the postal examiner upheld the seizure. UA then appealed to the Justice Department, which threw out the case, with the Post Office admitting that the postcard was not obscene. But the racy publicity was not enough to save The Naked Maja, which tanked at the box office.

Director: Henry Koster Producer: Goffredo Lombardo, Silvio Clementelli Screenplay: Norman Corwin, Giorgio Prosperi, based on a story by Oscar Saul, Talbot Jennings Cinematography: Giuseppe Rotunno Costume Design: Dario Cecchi, Maria Baroni Art Direction: Piero Filippone Music: Angelo Francesco Lavagnino Cast: Ava Gardner (Duchess of Alba), Anthony Franciosa (Francisco Goya), Amedeo Nazzari (Prime Minister Manuel Godoy), Gino Cervi (King Carlos IV), Lea Padovani (Queen Maria Luisa), Massimo Serato (Sanchez), Carlo Rizzo (Juanito). C-111m. Letterboxed. Naked Maja, 1797-1800 by Francisco Goya Naked Maja, 1797-1800 by Francisco Goya Click Image to view detail.

On 16 March 1815 the tribunal of the Inquisition issued a subpoena for Goy appear, "that he might acknowledge and declare the works to be his, why he created them, at whose request and to what end." The questions posed to the Aragonese painter concerned two enigmatic paintings: The Maja desnuda and the Maja vestida. His reply, if any, remains unknown. Though the canvases have aroused the curiosity of numerous scholars, the Inquisition's questions remain unanswered since the early nineteenth century We do not know who commissioned the paintings. Research focused first or the duchess of Alba, who had presented to Manuel Godoy, for his private study, Toilet of Venus of Diego Velazquez as well as a sixteenth-century Italian school Venus. It was there that Pedro Gonzalez de Sepulveda saw the Maja desnuda in 1800. If true, such an account supports arguments that the duchess herself served as the model, and that, as Viardot suggested in 1843, she ordered the head altered to conceal her identity.

More recent investigations incline toward the Prince Peace (Godoy) himself as patron: Goya had developed a most productive artistic relationship with him at the time. Baticle proposes Pepita Tudo, Godoy's mistress, as the most likely model, claiming that her head was refashioned in 1797, when Godoy wed the countess of Chinchon. What is certain is that the Maja desnuda was painted before 1800, since Sepulveda's commentary gives us the date ante quern. It was hidden in Godo private study, along with the duchess of Alba's two generous gifts. The Maja vestida was added shortly thereafter and is mentioned in Frederic Quilliet's 1808 inventory. It is commonly alleged that Goya sought to create companion paintings, either in the style of Titian , whose Venus and Adonis complements the Dana when the two are placed face to face, or along the lines of Juan Carreno's Monstruas (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid), naked and clothed.

Although the Maja vestida is smaller, it was meant to provide�almost literally�"closure" for the earlier painting." Various models are advanced as Goya's source inspiration: the two Venuses from the same private study, whether Velazque ; (Harris), the Titian copy (Tomlinson), or perhaps the Titian Bacchanal (Clark). But to grasp Goya's genius we need only note the novel concept of female nude he had assumed. Goya jettisons "excuses" for the nude: his model is not asleep, nor does she feign ignorance about being observed. Quite the contrary. She exposes herself without modesty, her arms behind her head, her pubis the center of the composition. Guests in Godoy's private study hailed as the most lofty incarnation of female beauty; subsequent centuries have acclaimed her as the prototype of Spanish womanhood. Sepulveda criticized the Maja desnuda, rather unjustly, as "a work devoid draftsmanship and clumsy in coloration." But the academic engraver was doubtless shocked by so shameless a display of the human body.

A more objtive assessment would stress Goya's great mastery of human anatomy, clearly observable in his full-figure nude studies from life, or earlier, in the perfect balanced Christ on the Cross (Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid), the painl that gained him admittance to the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in 1780. Goya's skill is obvious in this painting, as well as in the Maja vestida, where the play of cold light and subtle shadow shape the figure with absolute assurance. The maja reclines on a green velvet sofa, covered by a sheet and a pillow adorned with lace, astonishing in its delicate transpareni and tonal gradation. The pallor and chill of the lighting and the chosen rai of color, her positioning, and her level of exposure to the viewer all recall the Ariadnes of classical sculpture.

But this Ariadne is awake, and fixes her gaze directly on the observer, thus transforming the encounter between them in an erotic occasion, The Naked Maja Art Print by Francisco de Goya at Art.com Product Details Product Details This art print displays sharp, vivid images with a high degree of color accuracy on paper similar to that of a postcard or greeting card. A member of the versatile family of art prints, this high-quality reproduction represents the best of both worlds: quality and affordability. About the Art Francisco de Goya (1746 – 1828) was a talented and original Spanish artist whose questioning, irreverent attitude toward life was graphically conveyed in his works. Influenced by Velázquez and Rembrandt as well as by nature, Goya was Spain’s leading painter by the 1780s. As court painter to the Spanish royal family, he created realistic, penetrating portraits of his patrons. In 1792, Goya was ravaged by an illness that left him deaf, emotionally broken and embittered.

He is well known for his "Black Paintings," deeply disturbing, nightmarish works that Goya made after he was ravaged by a serious illness in 1792. He is also highly regarded for “Los Caprichos”, a series of etchings that were scathing commentaries on human foibles and the corruption of the establishment. Read More The Naked Maja Reviews & Ratings - IMDb IMDb 17 out of 22 people found the following review useful: Historic elements in film from United States 9 November 2005 "The Naked Maja" is one of my favorite movies because of the historical content, and it stars two of my favorite actors, Anthony Franciosa as the idealistic artist Francisco Goya and Ava Gardner as the ill-fated Duchess of Alba. The story begins before 1800 when the works of philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau are changing the social thought of Europe. According to Rousseau's philosophy, all people have dignity and worth and should have freedom of thought.

The philosophy also has introduced belief in personal fulfillment, freedom of expression, and self determination, which ultimately led to the French and American Revolutions in the late 18th century and revolutions throughout Europe by 1850. Because the Duchess of Alba embraces Rousseau's philosophy, she is condemned by the "old school" of monarchist Spain that clings to old ideas of a rigid social class and dictatorial views. Upon seeing the film, the viewer might be inspired to look at prints of Goya's works and see how he expressed ideas of equality and compassion for humanity in his art. By doing so, one will understand the film in a greater context. Was the above review useful to you? 10 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Historic melodrama about relationship between Francisco De Goya and Duchess of Alba Author: ma-cortes 20 October 2011 This is a melodrama involving 18-19th century famed Spanish painter named Goya (Anthony Franciosa) and famous model (Ava Gardner) for the title painting .

It's a slow vision of Saragossan painter Francisco Goya Lucientes' waning days in Madrid , as he wanders through Madrid streets and watches the citizen uprising against Napoleon troops . It portrays his relationship with historic personages as Carlos IV (Gino Cervi) , his wife Maria Luisa (Lea Padovani) and the scheming favorite Godoy (Amadeo Nazzari). As Goya observes events, dances , parties , inquisition trials that inspired his work . As the highlights of the movie result to be when are brought to life scenes of known paintings as ¨portrayal of Carlos IV family¨, ¨The charge of Mamelucos¨, ¨The trails of Inquisition¨, ¨Los Caprichos¨ and many others . This is a costumer partially based on facts but predominates the slow-moving melodrama. The picture relies heavily on lovely relationship between Goya and Duchess of Alba . Glamorously and sumptuously photographed by Giuseppe Rotunno , Federico Fellini's usual .

Lavishly produced by Goffredo Lombardo -Titanus production- that the next years financed another vehicle for Ava Grdner as ¨Angel wore red¨ directed by Nunnally Johnson . Emotive and romantic musical score by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino . The motion picture is middling directed by Henry Koster and filmed with a pervasive melancholy that does for slow drama . Koster , a veteran Hollywood filmmaker expert on historical genre as ¨The robe , Desiree , The Virgin Queen and D-Day the sixth of June¨ and comedy genre as ¨Inspector General , Mr. Hobbs takes a vacation , Bishop's wife and Rage of Paris¨. The flick weaves an intrigue between Duchess of Alba , Godoy and Goya who painted the famous Majas ; the actual deeds are the following : Two of Goya (Anthony Franciosa)'s best known paintings are The Nude Maja (La Maja Desnuda) and The Clothed Maja (La Maja Vestida). They depict the same woman in the same pose, naked and clothed, respectively. Without a pretense to allegorical or mythological meaning, the painting was "the first totally profane life-size female nude in Western art" .

The identity of the Majas are uncertain. The most popularly cited models are the Duchess of Alba (Ava Gardner), with whom Goya was sometimes thought to have had an affair, and Pepita Tudó, mistress of Manuel Godoy; Godoy (Amadeo Nazzari)subsequently owned them. Neither theory has been verified, and it remains as likely that the paintings represent an idealized composite. The paintings were never publicly exhibited during Goya's lifetime. They were owned by Manuel Godoy, the Prime Minister of Spain during Carlos IV (Gino Cervi) kingdom and a favorite of the Queen, María Luisa (Lea Padovani). In 1808 all Godoy's property was seized by Ferdinand VII after his fall from power and exile, and in 1813 the Inquisition confiscated both works as 'obscene', returning them in 1836 to the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando.

Other films dealing with Goya's life are : ¨Goya¨ by Nino Quevedo with Francisco Rabal ; ¨Los Desastres De Guerra¨ TV series by Jose Ramon Larraz with Enric Majo as Goya and the best is ¨Goya in Bordeaux (1999) by Carlos Saura with Francisco Rabal and Maribel Verdu as Duchess of Alba that is a highly theatricalized vision of exiled painter. Was the above review useful to you? 10 out of 11 people found the following review useful: Ava's beauty not enough to save dull historical romance... from U.S.A. 18 November 2010 If THE NAKED MAJA had a better script more faithful to the true life story of Spanish artist Francisco Goya and his affair with the Duchess of Alba, this may have been worth all the expense that went into producing it. There are fine production values including the gorgeous costumes worn by Miss Gardner, the opulent settings, the detailed color photography and the pretty background score full of pseudo-Spanish themes.

As a romantic drama, it only exposes the clash of two different acting styles--the overly intense histrionics employed by ANTHONY FRANCIOSA in the method tradition and the more natural technique of screen acting from AVA GARDNER as the woman he falls helplessly in love with at first sight. Her aloof demeanor only makes her more irresistible and there is one brilliant dance scene where the fiery Spanish flamenco music makes their emotions come to life vividly at least for the length of this sequence. Otherwise, their pairing as lovers never seems as intense as the script would suggest. Despite an overuse of eye make-up, Gardner at this point in her career was still very attractive in what is basically a one-dimensional role as an aloof woman with a past who cannot bring herself to declare love for the artist until it is too late. Henry Koster's direction is a tad too slow in pace but the main fault is the script which never permits the two leads to be anything more than one-dimensional in concept. Was the above review useful to you? 17 out of 26 people found the following review useful: One of Ava's Worst Efforts!

from Lone Pine, CA 30 April 2004 I'm an avid Ava Gardner fan, but this film ranks near the bottom of her career efforts, with 'The Bible', 'The Blue Bird', etc. 'The Naked Maja' is beautiful enough to look at, but is poorly directed, narrated, and edited. The story of the Duchess of Alba, could have been the basis for a much more interesting film, but this film is a lesson in missed cinematic opportunities. Ava, more commonly called 'the most beautiful animal in the world', possessed a raw, exciting sexuality, that provided the few sparks, in an otherwise lifeless film. I definitely did not consider her the most beautiful women in films, but certainly one of the most sensuous. This was not a major film, and Anthony Franciosa was not a major star; even though I loved his work in 'A Hatful Of Rain'. I wanted to love this film, when it was released, and I was hopelessly smitten with Miss Gardner.

Ultimately, I had to admit that it was not as good as some of her other disappointing films, like 'The Sun Also Rises', 'The Little Hut', 'Bhowani Junction', just to name a few. 'Mogambo', 'The Barefoot Contessa', 'Showboat', and 'The Night of the Iguana', were my personal favorite Ava Gardner films. Ava Gardner would rank right behind Hedy Lamarr and Elizabeth Taylor, as the most beautiful women in the world. Costumes for Ava, in 'The Naked Maja', were quite good. Was the above review useful to you? 7 out of 8 people found the following review useful: One touch of Venus. Author: dbdumonteil 21 October 2010 In her very pleasant memoirs ,Ava Gardner recalls Anthony Franciosa's very "actor's studio method " acting ,which she did not take seriously :his performance when he is delirious and when he proudly tells the Holy Office that the beauty of a woman was given to man by God is revealing;Gardner tells us how much time he spent wondering how he would play "THAT " scene ,how he would deliver "THIS" line.

Koster's direction is mediocre at best ,static and academic ,not even using Goya's art -what Vincente Minnelli did with Van Gogh in "lust for life" -;anyway as an user has already pointed out the Maja does not resemble Gardner and for a good reason: the picture was made for Manuel ,the villain of the movie ,and it represents his hot lover Pepita!The screenplay is confused ,it's a stodgy mixture of art,religion,intrigues ,irresolute king,wicked minister and Napoleon's army around the corner. For all that,Mrs Gardner's extraordinary beauty survives and even if the movie does not satisfy,the simple fact of watching her will make your day.She would prove ,in her following movie ("on the beach") and even more in "the night of the iguana" that she could act ,and superbly act when she was given decent scripts to work with. Was the above review useful to you? 7 out of 10 people found the following review useful: Romantic trash from Mexico 13 January 2009 "The Naked Maja" has beautiful sets and costumes, but only a passing acquaintance with reality.

About the best that can be said is that it features some impressive views of Miss Gardner's lovely bosom. Diego Velázques (1599-1660) painted one of the earliest known Spanish nudes, the Rokeby Venus, featured as the "loot" in the film "The Happy Thieves." About two centuries after Velázques, Francisco Goya 1746-1828) painted a short, plump nude maja (street girl) reclining on a bed. When this picture was criticized as obscene, he painted the same girl again, in the same position but dressed, which makes her more, rather than less suggestive. The chunky girl in the "maja" paintings does not resemble Goya's portraits of the Duchess of Alba in any way.

When I was last in the Prado the two majas were hanging on either side of the door to the room housing the portrait of King Carlos IV and family  and the queen was definitely not the lovely young woman who played the part in "The Naked Maja." Goya also painted two portraits of his very close friend, the tall, angular Duchess of Alba, in one she is dressed in white and in the other, in black. The 'black portrait' shows the duchess pointing imperiously at the ground where the words "solo Goya" ("only Goya") can be seen written in the sand at her feet. Milos Forman's "Goya's Ghosts" (2006) is a far better film and much closer to historical fact. Goya's passing affair with the Duchess of Alba, who was certainly not the girl in the Maja paintings, does not figure in the latter film. Was the above review useful to you? 2 out of 2 people found the following review useful: Gorgeous scenery...and gorgeous Ava!

from Mouse Town, USA 28 July 2015 I just happened onto this film, playing on a local broadcast digital TV channel (The Works), and am glad that I did. I had never seen this film before or heard of it, but have always loved the art of Goya. This movie made me want to go look up his complete life story, and of the Duchess (the part played by Ava Gardner). Just saw a scene where Goya (Anthony Franciosa) is painting in a field, and Maria (Ava) is with him, and some soldiers on horseback are riding by. The captain comes to greet Maria, and when they leave Goya voices his displeasure about 'war-making', etc. This scene reminded me of the one in 'Immortal Beloved' (movie about Beethoven with Gary Oldman) where Napoleon's army is attacking nearby... and how, through history, some of the greatest works of music, art, etc., are created during times of great unrest and horrific wars. Maybe this is the 'balance' that helps maintain the human world, and all our collective sanity? Anyways, the scenes, costumes, music, and especially Ava, are all so very, very beautiful!

Was the above review useful to you? 13 out of 31 people found the following review useful: AVA GARDNER, THE MOST BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IN THE WORLD !!! from Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain 3 May 2003 A well narrated film in sensational technicolor, where Ava Gardner shows her charm as actress. Her famous legend in Spain is very adecuate for this film. An magnificent world with wine, bulls, spanish music and the fabulous pictures by Diego Velazquez, a great spanish painter whose picture named "the naked maja" builds a magic legend in Spain. Curious and excellent film. And an inmortal woman: Ava Gardner... Was the above review useful to you? Francisco de Goya. Intermediate paintings by Goya. Intermediate Art by Goya Francisco de Goya Francisco de Goya is an innovative Spanish Romanticism painter, one of the great Spanish masters. As an artist, Goya was by temperament far removed from the classicals. In a few works he approached Classical style, but in the greater part of his work the Romantic triumphed. Straightforward candor and honesty are present in all Goya's works.

The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists. For the bold technique of his paintings, the haunting satire of his etchings, and his belief that the artist's vision is more important than tradition, Goya is often called "the grandfather of modern art". Francisco de Goya became one of the most influential figures in Spanish art of all time. He was also extremely important in the development of modern aesthetic sensibility, a forerunner of Romanticism, both in the content of his paintings, with their in-depth exploration of reality and references to the dream world, and in his very original technique. Portrait Of Martin Zapater (1797) Get a high-quality picture of Portrait Of Martin Zapater for your computer or notebook. ‣ In his early schooling Goya made his lifelong friendship with Martin Zapater, with whom he would exchange correspondence for much of his life. Goya painted two portraits of Zapater, a wealthy corn-merchant, this portrait in Bilbao and seven years earlier another, now in a private collection. St. Gregory (1797) Get a high-quality picture of St.

Gregory for your computer or notebook. ‣ This belongs to a series of representations of the four Doctors of the Church, of which the St Augustine and St Ambrose are also extant. They are not documented but are reasonably assumed to have been painted after Goya's visit to Andalusia in 1796-97 both on stylistic grounds and because of their resemblance to Murillo's seated figures of St Isidore and St Leander in Seville Cathedral. In style and colour they also reflect Goya's earlier studies of Tiepolo. Goya's St Gregory, seated on a platform like Murillo's saints, is a monumental figure in an undefined space, without decor or attributes other than the large book and papal tiara to identify him as the pope said to have left the greatest number of writings. Gaspar Melchor De Jovellanos (1798) Get a high-quality picture of Gaspar Melchor De Jovellanos for your computer or notebook. ‣ Goya painted this grand portrait of his friend and patron Jovellanos (1744-1811), the learned writer and liberal statesman, at the time of his appointment as Minister of Grace and Justice.

The liberal patriot and nobleman fought - with increasing success - for reforms and against ignorance, superstition and the Inquisition. The portrait was painted while the court was at Aranjuez. Not long afterwards Goya painted a portrait of Francisco de Saavedra, Minister of Finance, after he succeeded Godoy as Secretary of State (March 1798), in similar pose. Heroes of a brief liberal interlude, both ministers were soon to be relieved of their posts, victims of Godoy: Jovellanos to become a political prisoner in Mallorca for seven years. Jovellanos, who was 54 years old when he came to power and was painted by Goya, is known to have taken much trouble with his hair, here seen carefully dressed, as he refused to wear a wig. Goya has placed his sitter in a rich setting, with muted lighting, seated in melancholy pose, beside an ornate table covered with papers and with an inkwell. A statue of Minerva in bronze is a tribute to the sitter's great learning and distinguished position at the time of the painting. Jovellanos bequeathed Goya's portrait to his friend and protector, Arias de Saavedra.

Jovellanos as well as Goya used the language of satire to attack social and political abuse. The second of Goya's Caprichos in which a blind-folded young woman is led to the altar by an ugly old man, takes its caption from a verse by his patron: 'They say yes and offer their hand to the first comer.' The Minister's concern for prison reform also found a response in the artist in his many illustrations of the torture of prisoners. Josefa Bayeu (Or Leocadia Weiss) (1798) Get a high-quality picture of Josefa Bayeu (Or Leocadia Weiss) for your computer or notebook. ‣ Depending on how they date this painting, art historians see in it a portrait either of Goya's wife Josefa or his subsequent partner Leocadia Weiss, who moved in with the artist in 1813, just one year after Josefa's death, and lived with him until his death. Portrait Of Andres Del Peral (1798) Get a high-quality picture of Portrait Of Andres Del Peral for your computer or notebook.

‣ According to a modern label on the back of the picture, the sitter was a doctor of law, and financial representative of the Spanish government in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century. He is known to have been a collector and to have owned a number of paintings by Goya. Goya's friend Carderera commented the painting that Goya 'had such care and love for the grand effect of a picture that he usually put the last touches on by night with artificial light, at times taking little account of whether the drawing was more or less accurate'. The Bewitched Man (1798) Get a high-quality picture of The Bewitched Man for your computer or notebook. ‣ The inscription: LAM/DESCO (Lampara descomunal, 'extraordinary lamp') identifies the subject as a scene from El hechizado por fuerza ('The man bewitched by force'), a play by Antonio de Zamora. The protagonist, Don Claudio, is led to believe that he is bewitched and that his life depends on keeping a lamp alight. The play was first performed in 1698 and reprinted several times, including 1795, shortly before Goya's painting.

Goya has represented the scene as a theatrical performance, on a stage with the dancing donkeys as a backcloth (in the play they are described as paintings on a wall). The goat that appears to hold a lamp is no more than a stage property but the fear that it inspires in Don Claudio is portrayed with dramatic realism. This was one of six pictures of witches and devils painted by Goya for the Alameda of the Duke and Duchess of Osuna and paid for in 1798. The subjects are similar to scenes of witchcraft in Los Caprichos on which Goya was working at this time. The Miracle Of St. Anthony (Detail) (1798) Get a high-quality picture of The Miracle Of St. Anthony (Detail) for your computer or notebook. ‣ Behind the painted railing surrounding the cupola, Saint Anthony, in the presence of a Lisbon crowd, brings back to life a murdered man in order to establish his father's innocence of the crime. The church of San Antonio, a small neo-classical building on the outskirts of Madrid, was a royal chapel completed in 1798.

The only document referring to Goya's decorations is an account for materials, 'for the work in the chapel of San Antonio de la Florida, which he carried out at His Majesty's bidding in this year, 1798'. The account, dated 20 December, covers the period between June and October and includes the cost of a carriage to take Goya to and from the church every day from 1 August until the completion of the work. The decoration of the cupola, apse, lunettes and pendentives, executed in fresco with added touches of tempera, is unprecedented in Goya's oeuvre for the boldness and individuality of its style. The placing of the principal scene of the miracle on the walls of the cupola usually occupied by a representation of heaven is unconventional, like the decoration of the walls below with female angels and painted curtains. The effect of the whole is almost that of a secular decoration, strong in colour and free in handling. Many years after his burial in Bordeaux, Goya's remains were taken back to Spain and since 1929 they have been entombed in this church.

La Tirana (1799) Get a high-quality picture of La Tirana for your computer or notebook. ‣ The painting represents Maria del Rosario Fernandez, the famous actress. The title of the painting was originated from the fact that her husband, also an actor, frequently played the role of tyrants. Charles IV And His Family (1800) Get a high-quality picture of Charles IV And His Family for your computer or notebook. ‣ Goya clearly had in mind for this royal group the composition of Velazquez's Meninas, which he had copied in an engraving many years before. Like Velazquez, he has placed himself at an easel in the background, to one side of the canvas. But his is a more formal royal portrait than Velazquez's: the figures are grouped almost crowded together in front of the wall and there is no attempt to create an illusion of space. The eyes of Goya are directed towards the spectator as if he were looking at the whole scene in a mirror. The somewhat awkward arrangement of the figures suggests, however, that he composed the group in his studio from sketches made from life.

Goya is known to have made four journeys to Aranjuez in 1800 to paint ten portraits of the royal family. Since there are 12 figures in the group it is likely that the woman seen in profile and the woman whose head is turned away - the only two whose identity is uncertain were not present at the time. Goya's magnificent royal assembly is dominated not by Charles IV but by the central figure of the Queen, Maria Luisa, whose ugly features are accentuated by her ornate costume and rich jewels. For some unknown reason this was the last occasion that Goya is known to have painted any member of this royal family, except for the future Ferdinand VII, who stands in the foreground on the left. The unusual figure composition on the wall behind the group has been identified as Lot and his Daughters, but no such painting has been identified. Portrait Of The Countess Of Chinchon (1800) Get a high-quality picture of Portrait Of The Countess Of Chinchon for your computer or notebook.

‣ The stunning dress, of a still Tiepolesque lightness, stands out against a timeless, unidentified background; but what really strikes us in this portrait is the totally unidealized face, and the closed, melancholy, uncomprehending expression which verges on idiocy. This is Maria Teresa de Vallabriga y Borbon, Countess of Chinchon, the daughter of Don Luis de Borbon and Maria Teresa de Vallabriga, and wife of Manuel Godoy, the favourite of Queen Maria Luisa. The Nude Maja (La Maja Desnuda) (1800) Get a high-quality picture of The Nude Maja (La Maja Desnuda) for your computer or notebook. ‣ Goya's Majas (fashionable young women) are two of his most famous and most discussed masterpieces. Their date, for whom they were painted and the identity of the model are problems that are still not satisfactorily solved.

The first mention of The Nude Maja is in the diary of the medallist Pedro Gonzalez de Sepulveda describing a visit in November 1800 to the house of the Minister, Manuel Godoy, Goya's patron and the target of his satire: 'In an apartment or inner cabinet are pictures of various Venuses... (among them) a naked one by Goya, without design or delicacy of colouring' and Velazquez's 'famous Venus'. There is no mention of The Clothed Maja and presumably it was not there, probably not yet painted. Godoy's position at court and his known taste for paintings of female nudes (there were many others in his collection) makes it likely that both Majas were painted for him. An alternative suggestion is that they were in the Duchess of Alba's collection and acquired by Godoy after her death, together with Velazquez's The Toilet of Venus and other pictures. Goya's relations with the Duchess of Alba have made her the most popular candidate as a model for the Majas, at least as a source of inspiration, supported by the many drawings of herself and members of her household he made during his visit to the Duchess's country estate.

The lack of resemblance to the heads of Goya's earlier portraits of her is usually explained by the need to conceal her identity. Whoever the model may have been and for whomever the pictures were made, Goya's nude Maja is unique and unprecedented in his oeuvre and in Spain, even in Europe, in his time. Velazquez's Venus, which Goya must have seen in the Duchess of Alba's collection, is its only comparable predecessor in the life-like portrayal of the female nude. But where the Velazquez is also a mythological painting, Goya's The Nude Maja makes no pretence of being anything but the rendering of a naked woman lying on a couch. Manuel Godoy, Duke Of Alcudia, 'Prince Of The Peace' (1801) Get a high-quality picture of Manuel Godoy, Duke Of Alcudia, 'Prince Of The Peace' for your computer or notebook. ‣ This portrait was painted between July and October 1801 to commemorate the victory in Portugal, the War of the Oranges, so-called because Godoy, Chief Minister, is said to have sent a gift of oranges to the Queen in celebration.

The Portuguese banners prominent in the foreground were awarded to Godoy in July and in October he was made Generalissimo of land and sea, which entitled him to wear a blue sash in place of the red sash of Captain General, which he wears here. Goya has portrayed Godoy in an elaborate and unusual composition, in a reclining posture reminiscent of some of his paintings of women on couches, seemingly inappropriate for the hero of a military victory. Goya's portrait hints at disrespect for the pomposity of his sitter, though Godoy was an important patron, a collector on a grand scale, for whom Goya painted many works including the famous portrait of his wife, the Countess of Chinchon. Godoy was also owner of the two Majas and may even have commissioned them. Goya's friendship with liberal ministers, such as Jovellanos and Saavedra, did not affect the relationship between the First Court Painter and the Chief Minister, whose rapid rise to power, attributed to his liaison with the Queen, made him notorious.

Godoy must have been aware of the fact that he had been and still was the target of Goya's satirical wit in several plates of Los Caprichos, the ass looking up his genealogy in a book illustrated with row after row of asses, for instance, and in the etching entitled Birds of a Feather (Tal para qual). According to contemporary commentaries this is a reference to Godoy and Queen Maria Luisa, in particular to an occasion when she was mocked by a group of washerwomen for her unseemly behaviour. Yet despite all this, Godoy in his Memoirs written years later in France referred to Goya's Caprichos with pride as if he had been responsible for their publication. The Clothed Maja (La Maja Vestida) (1803) Get a high-quality picture of The Clothed Maja (La Maja Vestida) for your computer or notebook. ‣ Though it was no doubt painted earlier, the first record of The Clothed Maja and the first mention of the paintings together is in an inventory of Godoy's collection dated 1 January 1808, where they are called 'gipsies'.

In an article on Los Caprichos published in Cadiz in 1811, it is as Goya's Venuses that they are mentioned amongst his most admired works (they are also called Venuses in Goya's biography by his son). The next mention of the Majas is towards the end of 1814, when Goya was denounced to the Inquisition for being the author of two obscene paintings in the sequestrated collection of the Chief Minister Godoy, 'one representing a naked woman on a bed...and the other a woman dressed as a maja on a bed'. On 16 May 1815, the artist was summoned to appear before a Tribunal 'to identify them and to declare if they are his works, for what reason he painted them, by whom they were commissioned and what were his intentions'. Unfortunately Goya's declaration has not yet come to light. As a pair of paintings of a single figure in an identical pose, the Majas are a highly original invention. The theory that the clothed woman was intended as a cover for the naked one is very credible. It is not surprising that the Majas attracted the attention of the Inquisition in Madrid in 1814.

As late as 1865 Manet's Olympia (which bears such a close resemblance to The Naked Maja that it is difficult to believe that the artist had not seen Goya's painting) created a furious scandal when it was exhibited in the Paris Salon. Dona Isabel De Porcel (1805) Get a high-quality picture of Dona Isabel De Porcel for your computer or notebook. ‣ Goya's fame is as ambiguous as his career. A fashionable court painter and society portraitist, once renowned for his designs of light-hearted decorations, he is now celebrated as a passionate denouncer of injustice and the horrors of war. Supreme recorder of his countrymen's diversions, superstitions and travails, he is also the greatest master of private nightmare, expressed above all in the horrific 'Black Paintings' made for his own house. Perhaps the last great artist working in a style associated with 'anciens regimes' throughout Europe, he has been called 'the first of the moderns'.

A painter rivalling Velazquez in the freedom of his brush and his understanding of light and shade, Goya came to be known outside Spain for his engravings, etchings and aquatints, some of the finest ever produced. In a career spanning over sixty years he left some five hundred paintings, most of them still in Spain (where he also executed frescoes), and many more prints and drawings. Dona Isabel and her husband Don Antonio were close friends of Goya; according to tradition he painted both their portraits during a visit to their home in gratitude for their hospitality. Don Antonio's likeness, formerly in the Jockey Club, Buenos Aires, was subsequently destroyed in a fire. Dona Isabel wears the dress of a maja - a style originally associated with the demimonde of Madrid, but in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries adopted by ladies of fashion as a token of Spanish patriotism, and also, no doubt, because its black lace mantilla and high waist were madly flattering, as we can see here. The dress justifies the pose, which we know from Flamenco dance: left arm akimbo, torso and head sharply turned in different directions.

Perfectly adapted to the half-length format, the protruding right arm and hand providing a stable base for the torso, this pose without the maja connotation would have been unacceptably vulgar in the portrait of a lady. We experience it as wonderfully emancipated. Goya emphasizes Dona Isabel best features, her eyes and her fresh colouring, without hiding the fleshy nose and slightly underslung jaw; the incipient double chin adds to her youthful charm. Freely painted, the mantilla serves as a dark aureole to her bright face, and tones down the shimmering pink and white bodice in order not to distract from the flesh tones. Portrait Of Antonia Zarate (1805) Get a high-quality picture of Portrait Of Antonia Zarate for your computer or notebook. ‣ The sitter was a leading actress, mother of the playwright Gil y Zarate and one of several members of the theatrical world portrayed by Goya. She was born in 1775 and was 30 years old at the time when this portrait was probably painted. She died in 1811. Another bust portrait has been dated earlier by some critics and later by others.

But the pose and details of her face and coiffure are so similar only the dress and fancy headdress are different that the two portraits cannot be very different in date. The liveliness of the close-up view of the bust portrait suggests that this may be Goya's first likeness of his beautiful sitter, later transformed into a grand composition. The problem of dating two versions of the same subject is not uncommon in Goya's oeuvre. The yellow settee appears in other portraits by Goya (for example the portrait of Perez Estala in the Kunsthalle, Hamburg) and was probably a studio property. Nowhere, however, does it provide a more effective setting than here, as a background to the lovely dark-haired actress. Portrait Of A Lady With A Fan (1807) Get a high-quality picture of Portrait Of A Lady With A Fan for your computer or notebook. ‣ It has been suggested that this handsome, plump young woman is Goya's daughter-in-law, Gumersinda Goicoechea, and that the portrait was painted shortly before or shortly after the birth of his grandson Mariano.

Though it is difficult to judge the resemblance to Goya's other portraits of Gumersinda - a profile drawing, a miniature in near profile and a full-length portrait of a much slimmer and more elegant figure, with a different coiffure - there is a similarity in the features that makes the identification credible. The portrait was in the collection of Goya's son but when it left his collection the name of the sitter was forgotten. The Colossus (1808) Get a high-quality picture of The Colossus for your computer or notebook. ‣ The painting sometimes is also called Panic. The giant is shown standing, his fists clenched for battle. The landscape is full of streams of people fleeing with their cattle.The painting makes it clear that mankind is dominated by fate, a force between heaven and earth. The demonic element, that has power over the earth, is depicted like a dream. Goya is basically using a Baroque device, allegory. He just makes the painting difficult to interpret, for we do not know whether the figure is intended to be a personification of revolution itself, of mankind exploding in rage, or its opposite, danger taking on visionary form.

Allegory Of The City Of Madrid (1810) Get a high-quality picture of Allegory Of The City Of Madrid for your computer or notebook. ‣ At the end of 1809, during the French occupation of Madrid, Goya was chosen as 'el pintor madrileno por excelencia' to paint a portrait of Joseph Bonaparte for the City Council. In the absence of the French King, Goya composed this picture, described at the time as 'certainly worthy of the purpose for which it was intended', introducing the portrait of Joseph (after an engraving) in the medallion, to which the figure personifying Madrid points. With the changing fortunes of the war this portrait was replaced (by other hands) by the word 'Constitucion', by another portrait of Joseph, again by 'Constitucion' and at the end of the war by a portrait of Ferdinand VII. Eventually in 1843 it received the present inscription 'DOS DE MAYO' ('The second of May') in reference to the popular rising against the French in Madrid in 1808. The surprisingly conventional allegorical composition is perhaps dictated by the purpose for which it was originally painted.

It contrasts strikingly with the realism and fervour of the scenes from the rising which Goya painted four years later. Portrait Of Victor Guye (1810) Get a high-quality picture of Portrait Of Victor Guye for your computer or notebook. ‣ The sitter, only six or seven years old, wears the uniform of page to Joseph Bonaparte. He was the nephew of General Nicolas Guye, who was also portrayed by Goya in 1810 (Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond). According to an inscription on the back of the canvas, the two portraits were painted as pendants. During the French occupation of Madrid - at the time when he was working on the drawings for the Desastres de la Guerra - Goya painted several portraits of Frenchmen and pro-French Spaniards. Little or nothing of his avowed hostility to the French invaders is revealed in these works, least of all in this sympathetic portrayal of a French child. Les Vieilles Or Time And The Old Women (1812) Get a high-quality picture of Les Vieilles Or Time And The Old Women for your computer or notebook.

‣ The mark 'X23' at the bottom of the canvas identifies this as a painting listed in 1812 in the inventory of paintings in Goya's house allocated to his son Javier. It probably hung next to one or other of two versions of Majas on a Balcony that bears the number X24. The painting of Les Jeunes or the Young Ones (A Woman Reading a Letter), long thought to have been a pendant and later sharing the same history, was possibly intended as such, although painted a year or two later. Exceptional in its way as a life-size Capricho, the scale makes the satirical purport the more forceful. But though the general meaning is clear - the ridiculing of the pretentiousness and vanity of the rich and old and ugly - the exact message 'Que tal?' ('How goes it?') on the back of the mirror is not spelt out. A similar theme, without the figure of Time, which is the subject of Plate 55 of Los Caprichos, has lent itself to interpretation as a reference to the Dowager Duchess of Osuna, and also to Queen Maria Luisa, renowned for her vanity and her ugliness.

In support of such an allusion, though the Queen had long since left Spain when this painting was made, one of these old women wears a diamond arrow similar to that worn by Maria Luisa in the group portrait of Charles IV and his Family. Goya's son was no doubt referring to this and other paintings that Goya owned in 1812 when he wrote in one of his biographies of his father that Goya was specially interested in the paintings in his house 'because they were made with all the liberty that ownership affords; a liberty which led him in some cases to use the palette knife instead of the brush...and he particularly enjoyed seeing them every day'. Portrait Of The Duke Of Wellington (1812) Get a high-quality picture of Portrait Of The Duke Of Wellington for your computer or notebook. ‣ Wellington is the only Englishman, and one of very few foreigners, to have had their portraits painted by Goya. As victor of the Battle of Salamanca, the Earl of Wellington and Lieutenant-General, as he then was, had liberated Madrid from the French, entering the city in August 1812, when he sat for Goya.

He is shown with the decorations of three Orders, the Bath (topmost star), the Tower and Sword of Portugal (lower left), and San Fernando of Spain (lower right). The insignia of the Golden Fleece was probably added to the costume later in the month, and the uniform altered to an approximation of Wellington's dress uniform as general. Originally he had been painted wearing the oval Peninsular Medallion; Goya retouched the portrait two years later, when Wellington returned as ambassador to the restored King Ferdinand VII and the medallion had been replaced by the Military Gold Cross. Arthur Wellesley, first Duke of Wellington, 43 when the portrait was made and greying at the temples, looks out from above his medals with an alert and good-humoured air. Goya often gave his sitters an animated expression by showing them with their mouths slightly open; even the Queen of Spain, Maria Luisa, shows her teeth in a famous group portrait of 1800 - an unthinkable breach of etiquette in any earlier age. Here, the duke's short upper lip is drawn up over two large English front teeth, a 'speaking likeness'.

He is unlikely to have been speaking to Goya, who was totally deaf as a result of an illness in 1792 and could communicate only in sign language and by writing. 'He painted only in one session, sometimes of ten hours, but never in the (late) afternoon. The last touches for the better effect of a picture he gave at night, by artificial light', wrote Goya's son, Francisco Javier, in his biography of the artist. The liveliness of this portrait suggests it is painted from life (although it is doubtful that 'Senor Willington', as Goya called him, sat for the full ten hours). The glitter of the decorations, so much bolder than the highlights on the flesh or the catchlights in the eyes, equally suggests that they may have been touched up at night. We know that both uniform and decorations were altered by Goya after the first sitting. There are two known portraits in oils of Wellington by Goya, one large equestrian portrait (Apsley House, London) and this bust as well as two drawings. A third painting of Wellington with hat and cloak (National Gallery of Art, Washington) is no longer considered to be by Goya.

All are related, but the order of their execution and their precise interrelations are difficult to determine. It has been suggested that the drawings may have been made in preparation for an etching that was never executed. The British Museum drawing, in which the head most closely resembles the head in the paintings, may, however, have served as a study for these. An inscription on this drawing says that it was a study for the equestrian portrait and an accompanying note (said to be in the hand either of Goya's grandson or of his friend Carderera), that it was made at Alba de Tormes after the Battle of Arapiles (i.e. Salamanca). The battle was fought on 22 July 1812 and Wellington was at Alba de Tormes on the following day, but it is unlikely that he was able to sit to Goya before he entered Madrid on 12 August. The equestrian portrait, the only one for which documents exist, must have been painted between 12 August and 2 September, when it was to be exhibited in the Academy of San Fernando.

The National Gallery painting was probably painted before he left Madrid on 1 September 1812, at the same time as the equestrian composition, when Wellington was still Earl of Wellington and Lieutenant-General. Of the two paintings, the head in the National Gallery version is the most animated and the most likely to have been taken from life. It is also the only one that represents Wellington in full military costume and the most ceremonial in appearance. Some of the decorations that he wears were received after he left Madrid in 1812 and the alterations that are visible in the painting may have been made in May 1814, when Wellington returned there as Ambassador to Ferdinand VII. Still-Life, A Butcher's Counter (1812) Get a high-quality picture of Still-Life, A Butcher's Counter for your computer or notebook. ‣ A dozen bodegones (still lifes) and a painting of birds are recorded in the inventory of Goya's possessions made in 1812 after the death of his wife, and according to his French biographer, Matheron, he painted several still lifes in the market at Bordeaux during his last years there.

The present example bears traces of the inventory mark that identifies the earlier group, and is remarkable for the period because of the casual arrangement of the sheep's head with its expressive eye, and sides of mutton. The signature is painted in red as if to simulate blood. For stylistic reasons this and other still lifes of the group - pictures of meat, fish, fowl and game - cannot be much earlier than the date they are recorded in Goya's house. This means that they must have been painted about the time of the 'ano del hambre', the year of the terrible famine in Madrid in 1811-12, when thousands died of hunger, thus raising the question of whether any allusion to the famine was intended by Goya. Were they perhaps meant as a sardonic commentary on the situation in one of the many illustrations of the effects of famine in his Desastres de la Guerra? A well-dressed woman stands before a group of starving victims, some dying, some dead, with the caption: 'The worst is to beg'. Francisco de Goya Art Goya, an innovative Spanish Romantic painter of straightforward candor and honesty with in-depth exploration of reality and references to the dream world... More...

115 pictures for only $25.

Question: Which Spaniard painted the Naked Maja?
Answer: Goya