The Naked Maja or The Nude Maja[1] (Spanish: La maja desnuda[laˈmaxaðesˈnuða]) is an oil-on-canvas painting made around 1797–1800 by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, and is now in the Museo del Prado in Madrid. It portrays a nude woman reclining on a bed of pillows, and was probably commissioned by Manuel de Godoy, to hang in his private collection in a separate cabinet reserved for nude paintings. Goya created a pendant of the same woman identically posed, but clothed, known today as La maja vestida (The Clothed Maja), also in the Prado, and usually hung next to La maja desnuda. The subject is identified as a maja or fashionable lower-class Madrid woman, based on her costume in La maja vestida.
The painting is renowned for the straightforward and unashamed gaze of the model towards the viewer. It has also been cited as among the earliest Western artwork to depict a nude woman's pubic hair without obvious negative connotations (such as in images of prostitutes).[2] With this work Goya not only upset the ecclesiastical authorities, but also titillated the public and extended the artistic horizon of the day. It has been in the Museo del Prado in Madrid since 1901.
Although the two versions of the Maja are the same size, the sitter in the clothed version occupies a slightly larger proportion of the pictorial space; according to art historian Janis Tomlinson she seems almost to "press boldly against the confines of her frame", making her more brazen in comparison to the comparatively "timid" nude portrait.[3]
The painting carries many of the traditions of depictions of the nude in Spanish art, but marks a clear break in significant ways, especially in her bold gaze. Further, the accompanying pendant showing a woman in contemporary dress makes it clear that the focus of the work is not of a mythological subject, as in Velázquez'sRokeby Venus, but in fact of a nude Spanish woman.[3] More obviously, while Velázquez painted his Venus revealing only her back, Goya's portrait is a full frontal view.[4] Goya's figuration is short and angular, while Velázquez's is elongated and curved, and his figure placed on richly coloured satin, which starkly contrasts to the bare white cloths Goya's maja rests on.[5]
The identity of the model and why the paintings were created are today unknown. Both paintings are first recorded in an inventory of "unpopular and unsuccessful art" by Prime Minister Manuel de Godoy, Duke of Alcúdia in 1800, when they were hung in a private room reserved for nude paintings, alongside such works as Velázquez's Rokeby Venus.[5] Godoy retained the picture for six years before it was discovered by investigators for the Spanish Inquisition in 1808, along with his other "questionable pictures".[4] Godoy and the curator of his collection, Don Francisco de Garivay, were brought before a tribunal and forced to reveal the artists behind the confiscated art works which were "so indecent and prejudicial to the public good."
Goya, The Inquisition Tribunal, c. 1808–12. Goya detested the inquisition and depicted it in harsh terms a number of times, and satirised it in works such as his c. 1820–1823 Witches' Sabbath.
The controversy was populist and driven by a political motive, following a mob gathering demanding Godoy's removal as Prime Minister. In the fallout, Goya was named and summoned on a charge of moral depravity.[6] As Godoy had only been found in possession of the painting, Goya was asked to identify why "he did them", and also "at whose request, and what attention guided him."[7] His answers do not survive, but it is known that the Director of Confiscations accepted that Goya had followed and emulated Titian's Danaë series and Velázquez's Rokeby Venus; two painters whose works, including their nudes, were admired by the court and church, and the Inquisition had previously found nothing objectionable in the Rokeby Venus.
Goya escaped prosecution when the tribunal accepted that he was following in a tradition, and emulating a Velázquez painting which had been favoured by Philip IV of Spain.[8] The earlier picture of Venus had been similarly kept out of view by that art-loving king in a private room, "the room where His Majesty retires after eating."[9] In fact, the Inquisition by 1808 was nearing the end of its influence, and while it could draw attention to "dangerous" forms of expression, be they books, plays, or paintings, it was usually unable to fully suppress them.[7]
Provenance
View of the two paintings side by side
La maja desnuda has always hung alongside, above, or before its companion. They were twice in the collection of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, also in Madrid, being "sequestered" by the Inquisition between 1814 and 1836 before being returned. They have been in the Prado since 1901.[10]
It is not known if the two works were intended to be hung together. One early account gives the Clothed Maja placed in front of the current work; the pull of a cord revealed the nude version. Today they are hung side by side, although others have suggested that they were intended to be spaced apart, and seen in succession.[3]
Identity of the model
It has been conjectured that the woman depicted was Prime Minister Godoy's young mistress Pepita Tudó. It has also been suggested that the woman was María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo, 13th Duchess of Alba, with whom Goya is rumored to have been romantically involved and whose portrait he painted twice (in 1795 and 1797). However, many scholars have rejected this possibility, including Australian art critic Robert Hughes in his 2003 biography Goya. Many agree that Pepita Tudó is a more likely candidate. Others believe that the woman is a composite of several different models.
The word maja is the feminine form of majo, a low-class Spaniard of the 18th and 19th century.
Influence
1930 Spanish stamp
The work has inspired other artists. Jeffrey Meyers, in his book Impressionist Quartet: The Intimate Genius of Manet and Morisot, Degas and Cassatt, opines that Manet's Olympia "boldly alluded to another masterpiece, Goya's Naked Maja."[11]
Two sets of stamps depicting La maja desnuda in commemoration of Goya's work were privately produced in 1930 and later approved by the Spanish Postal Authority.[12]
The novel The Naked Maja (by Samuel Edwards, 1959)[13] is based on Goya's affairs with the Duchess. Later that same year, an Italian-French-American co-production film based on this novel (sharing the same name) was made by S.G.C., Titanus Films, and United Artists.
The painting figures into the plot of film Toto in Madrid, an Italian comedy film from 1959, directed by Steno, written by Vittorio Metz, starring Totò and Louis de Funès.
In the comedy film The Toy (1982 film), U.S. Bates has a portrait of his young wife posed in imitation of La maja vestida. A hidden switch on Bates' desk causes the figure's clothes to slide away, making it now resemble La maja desnuda.
^Jeffrey Meyers, Impressionist Quartet: The Intimate Genius of Manet and Morisot, Degas and Cassatt. New York: Harcourt, 2005. p. 35. ISBN 0-15-101076-5
Connell, Evan S. Francisco Goya: A Life. New York: Counterpoint, 2004. ISBN 1-58243-307-0
Hughes, Robert. Goya. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2004. ISBN 0-394-58028-1
Portús, Javier. Nudes and Knights: A Context for Venus, in Carr, Dawson W. Velázquez. Ed. Dawson W. Carr; also Xavier Bray, Javier Portús and others. National Gallery London, 2006. ISBN 1-85709-303-8
Tomlinson, Janis A. Goya in the Twilight of Enlightenment. Yale University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-300-05462-9
El Greco: The Nobleman with his Hand on his Chest – Adoration of the Shepherds – Doña María de Aragón Altarpiece – Annunciation – Christ Carrying the Cross – The Fable – The Flight into Egypt – Holy Face of Jesus – Holy Trinity – Julián Romero and Saint Julian – Portrait of a Doctor – Portrait of a Gentleman – Portrait of a Young Nobleman – Portrait of an Elderly Man – Portrait of an Unknown Gentleman – Portrait of Jerónimo de Cevallos – Portrait of Rodrigo Vázquez de Arce – Saint Andrew and Saint Francis – Saint Anthony of Padua – Saint Bernardino of Siena[1] – Saint James the Great – Saint John the Evangelist – Saint Paul – Saint Sebastian – Saint Thomas the Apostle – Holy Trinity – The Saviour – Virgin Mary
Luna: The Death of Cleopatra
Maíno: Adoration of the Magi – Portrait of a Gentleman – The Recovery of Bahía de Todos los Santos
Murillo: Adoration of the Shepherds(1650) – Aranjuez Immaculate Conception – The Christ Child and the Infant John the Baptist with a Shell – Christ on the Cross(1675, 1677) – The Conversion of Saint Paul – The Good Shepherd – The Holy Family with a Little Bird – The Immaculate Conception of El Escorial – The Immaculate Conception of Los Venerables – The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew – Our Lady of the Rosary – The Patrician's Dream – Rebecca and Eleazar
Pradilla: Doña Joanna the Mad
Ribera: Jacob's Dream – Democritus – Isaac and Jacob – Ixion – Tityos – The Martyrdom of Saint Philip – The Blind Sculptor
Sánchez Gallque: The Mulattos of Esmeraldas[2]
Velázquez: Las Meninas – The Triumph of Bacchus – Las Hilanderas – The Surrender of Breda – Mars Resting – Equestrian Portrait of Philip IV – Equestrian Portrait of Elisabeth of France – Equestrian Portrait of Prince Balthasar Charles – Equestrian Portrait of Philip III – Equestrian Portrait of Margarita of Austria – Equestrian Portrait of the Count-Duke of Olivares – Adoration of the Magi – Apollo in the Forge of Vulcan – Christ Crucified – Coronation of the Virgin – View of the Garden of the Villa Medici – Prince Balthasar Charles as a Hunter – Portrait of the Infante Don Carlos – Doña Antonia de Ipeñarrieta y Galdós and Her Son Don Luis – The Jester Barbarroja – The Jester Calabacillas – The Jester Don Diego de Acedo – The Jester Don John of Austria – Portrait of Francisco Lezcano – Infanta Margarita Teresa in a Pink Dress – Portrait of Maria Anna – Portrait of Juan Martínez Montañés – The Nun Jerónima de la Fuente – Portrait of Pablo de Valladolid – Portrait of Philip IV in Armour – Portrait of Mariana of Austria – Portrait of Sebastián de Morra
Zurbarán: Agnus Dei – The Death of Hercules – The Defence of Cádiz Against the English – Hercules and the Hydra – Hercules Separates Mounts Calpe and Abylla – Hercules Fighting the Nemean Lion – Saint Elizabeth of Portugal – Saint Luke Painting the Crucifixion – Saint Peter Nolasco's Vision of Saint Peter the Apostle – Still Life with Pots – The Vision of Saint Peter Nolasco
Bouts: Triptych with Scenes from the Life of the Virgin
Bruegel the Elder: The Triumph of Death – The Wine of Saint Martin's Day – Excursion in the Countryside of Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia – Life in the Countryside – The Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia in the Mariemont Park(with de Momper) – Landscape(with de Momper) – The Five Senses(with Rubens)
van Dyck: Self-portrait with Sir Endymion Porter – The Betrayal of Christ – The Brazen Serpent – Diana and a Nymph Surprised by a Satyr – Saint Rosalia – The Crowning with Thorns
van Hemessen: The Surgeon
Francken the Younger: The Sciences and the Arts
Jordaens: Apollo as Victor over Pan – Meleager and Atalanta – The Painter's Family
Memling: Adoration of the Magi
Mengs: Portrait of José Nicolás de Azara
de Momper: Landscape with Sea and Mountains – A Farm – Flemish Market and Washing Place – Landscape with Skaters – The Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia in the Mariemont Park(with Brueghel the Elder) – Landscape(with Brueghel the Elder)
Rubens: The Judgement of Paris(1638) – The Three Graces – Adoration of the Magi – The Dance of the Villagers – Diana and Callisto – Equestrian Portrait of the Duke of Lerma – The Fall of Man – The Garden of Love – The Birth of the Milky Way – The Rape of Europa – The Rape of Ganymede – Saint George and the Dragon – Saturn – The Triumph of the Church – Deucalion and Pyrrha – The Five Senses(with Brueghel the Elder)
Lorrain: Landscape with St Paula of Rome Embarking at Ostia – The Ford – Landscape with St María de Cervelló – Landscape with the Burial of St Serapia – Landscape with the Finding of Moses – Landscape with the Temptation of St Anthony – Landscape with Tobias and Raphael
Poussin: Parnassus – Landscape with Three Figures – Saint Cecilia
Media related to La Maja Desnuda at Wikimedia Commons