Francisco de Goya

The Clothed Maja (La maja vestida)

The Clothed Maja (La maja vestida)
Datos Generales
Cronología
1800 - 1807
Ubicación
The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Dimensiones
95 x 188 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil on canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Titular
El Prado National Museum
Ficha: realización/revisión
04 Feb 2010 / 15 Jun 2023
Inventario
(P00741)
Historia

This work formed part of Manuel Godoy's art collection. Following the Aranjuez uprising of 1808 and the abdication of King Charles IV that same year, the work was seized, along with other items, by order of Ferdinand VII. Between 1808 and 1813 it was stored, together with The Nude Maja, at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and in 1813 it was confiscated by the Inquisition. It was kept at the Madrid academy from 1836 until 1901, when it entered the collection of the Prado Museum, being mentioned in the museum's catalogue for the first time in 1910.

Análisis artístico

It is thought that this canvas could have been painted several years after its pair, The Nude Maja.

The first mention of this painting dates back to 1808 and the inventory that Fréderic Quilliet, an agent of Joseph Bonaparte, drew up of the estate of Manuel Godoy (Badajoz, 1767-Paris, 1851). In 1813, in the inventory made following the seizure of Godoy's property by Ferdinand VII, the two majas are referred to as "gypsies".

Here we see the figure of the maja reclining on a green divan which is partially covered by a white bedspread and pillows. Her legs are slightly bent and her arms are folded behind her head. She is wearing delicate transparent clothes, tied around her waist by a pink silk sash. On her shoulders she wears a short yellow jacket with black decoration. On her feet is a pair of pointed shoes, the same colour as the jacket. Poking out from underneath the woman's hip we can see a reddish object which some writers have suggested could be the hilt of a dagger, although other scholars believe it to simply be a closed fan.

The artist has made use of a greater degree of artistic freedom in this painting than in the much more academic treatment employed in The Nude Maja. Here, loose brushstrokes and thickly applied paint are used to recreate the maja's clothing. Goya deftly captures the folds in the white fabric covering her body and the shimmering cloth of her pink sash and pointed shoes. More time has been spent on rendering the flesh tones of the face and the dark curly hair.

The woman's posture reveals certain similarities with another female portrait by Goya, that of Joaquina Téllez-Girón y Alfonso Pimentel, Marchioness of Santa Cruz (1805, Prado Museum, Madrid). Both women are shown dressed in the clothing that perhaps best characterized their personalities. In the present work, the woman is dressed as a maja, whilst the Marchioness of Santa Cruz is dressed as Erato, the muse of romantic poetry. Both women are shown in seductive poses and adopting an attitude which challenges the traditional coyness and reserve of female figures. The intelligence and directness of their gaze is also remarkable, revealing the resolute, active personality of these women. In these paintings, Goya demonstrates how a woman's intelligence and attitude can prove to be at least as seductive as her naked form.

Exposiciones
  • Goya 1900
    Ministerio de Instrucción Pública and Bellas Artes
    Madrid
    1900
    consultant editors Aureliano de Beruete, Alejandro Ferrant, Marqués de Pidal and Ricardo Velázquez. May 1900
  • Les chefs-d’œuvre du Musée du Prado
    Musée d’Art et d’Histoire
    Geneva
    1939
    consultant editors Fernando Álvarez de Sotomayor y Pedro Muguruza Otaño. From June to September 1939
  • Goya and his times
    The Royal Academy of Arts
    London
    1963
    cat. 66
  • El arte de Goya
    Museo de Arte Occidental de Tokio
    Tokyo
    1971
    from 16th 1971 to January 23th 1972. Exhibited also at the Kyoto Municipal Museum of Art, January 29th to March 15th 1972.
  • Goya
    Palacio de Pedralbes
    Barcelona
    1977
    from April 12th to June 30th 1977
  • De El Greco a Goya
    Palacio de Bellas Artes
    Mexico D.F.
    1978
    November-December 1978
  • Goya in the Metropolitan Museum of Art
    The Metropolitan Museum of Art
    New York
    1995
    consultant editors Colta Ives and Susan Alyson Stein. From September 12th to December 31st 1995
  • Realidad e imagen. Goya 1746 – 1828
    Museo de Zaragoza
    Zaragoza
    1996
    consultant editor Federico Torralba Soriano. From October 3th to December 1st 1996
  • Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1996
    consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996
  • Goya luces y sombras
    CaixaForum
    Barcelona
    2012
    consultant editors José Manuel Matilla and Manuela B. Marqués. From March 16th to June 24th 2012
  • Goya
    Basle
    2021
Bibliografía
  • DESPARMET FITZ - GERALD, Xavier
    L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols
    París
    1928-1950
    p. 106, cat. 388
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 188, cat. 744
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p. 339, cat. 539
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    Obras famosas de Goya
    Natterman Internacional
    1970
    p. 180 y 181 (il.)
  • SALAS, Xavier de
    Goya
    BarcelonaCarroggio S.A. de Ediciones
    1974
    p. 188, cat. 341
  • CAMÓN AZNAR, José
    Francisco de Goya, 4 vols.
    ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja
    1980-1982
    vol. II, p.128 y 130
  • GÁLLEGO, Julián
    Las majas de Goya
    MadridAlianza Editorial
    1982
    pp. 45 a 58
  • LUNA, Juan J. (Comisario)
    Goya. 250 Aniversario
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1996
    pp. 368 y 369, cat. 95
  • NAGEL, Ivan
    Der Künstler als Kuppler: Goyas nackte und bekleidete Maja en Herding, K.: Aufklärung anstelle von Andacht: kulturwissenschaftliche Dimensionen bildender Kunst
    FrankfurtLang
    1997
    pp. 27-33
  • TRAEGER, Jörg
    Goya. Die Kunst der Freiheit
    MunichVerlag C. H. Beck
    2000
    pp. 69-72, il. 19
  • SUREDA PONS, Joan
    Los mundos de Goya (1746-1828)
    BarcelonaLunwerg
    2008
    ils. 176, 177, pp. 289-290
Ficha en SAAC

Los Sistemas Aumentativos y Alternativos de Comunicación (SAAC) son formas de expresión distintas al lenguaje hablado, que tienen como objetivo aumentar (aumentativos) y/o compensar (alternativos) las dificultades de comunicación y lenguaje de muchas personas con discapacidad. Más info: Arasaac

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