The White Duchess
| The White Duchess | |
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| Artist | Francisco Goya |
| Year | 1795 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | 194 cm × 130 cm (76 in × 51 in) |
| Location | Collection of the Duke of Alba |
The White Duchess is a life sized (194 x 130 cm) oil-on-canvas painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya, completed in 1795 and now in the collection of the Duchess of Alba, Madrid. It portrays María Cayetana de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba, and is one of a number of portraits Goya painted of her around this time, and is usually compared alongside the similarly sized but tonally very different Black Duchess, which was painted two years later, just after her husband, José Álvarez de Toledo died aged 39. The duke and duchess were highly placed, cultivated and well-regarded members of the 1790s Spanish Court.
The commission is first mentioned in a letter dated August 2nd, 1794, written to his friend Martín Zapater, which mentions that Goya that had been asked to paint life-sized portraits of the Dukes of Alba.
The painting is composed from white, red, blue and brown pigments, but is mostly, according to Hughes "built around two themes, red and white", with the other major colour being black, represented by her dark curly hair.
María Cayetana de Silva was then 33 years old (middle aged for the time) and had recently recovered from a lengthy illness. She is presented with affection as a great beauty, and an engaging woman of wit and education. She stands in a dignified pose, looking directly at the viewer with a penetrating gaze. She is dressed in a full-length French style flowing white dress – far more elegant than the Maja style of the 1797 painting. The dress is made from white muslin fabric hemmed with gold embroidery. She has white pearl earrings, a wide red or scarlet sash and trimming, red pearl necklace and beads and red bows on her breast and wrapped in her hair. A bichon frise stands beside her. The dog also wears a red ribbon on one of its hind legs.
Her left arm is adorned with golden jewelry, placed at her wrist and above her elbow. She points with the index finger of her right hand towards an inscription on the ground, which includes Goya's autograph, a dating of 1795 and "A la duquesa de Alba Fr. de Goya 1795".
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