THE DRESSED MAJA
THE NAKED MAJA
TECHNICAL DATA
The paintings I’ve chosen are The Majas, by Francisco de Goya. They are some of his most famous paintings. The Naked Maja was painted between 1790 and 1800, and The Dressed Maja was painted later between 1802 and 1805. The Naked Maja is an oil painting on canvas and its dimensions are 97 cm x 190 cm and The Dressed Maja is also an oil painting on canvas and its dimensions are 95 cm x 188 cm. The Dressed Maja is less famous than the The Naked Maja.
The Majas were commissioned by Manuel Godoy, as it is certain that both paintings were part
of Godoy's home's office. Both paintings belonged to Manuel Godoy until Ferdinand VII of
Spain confiscated them in 1808. But in 1814 the Inquisition seized The
Naked Maja because it was very "obscene". Goya was carried to
trial but he was released without charge. The painting was deposited out from the public
view until the first decades of the 20th century.
The Nacked Maja was part of Godoy's cabinet in company of the famous Rokeby Venus by Velázquez and two other paintings by Titian. Goya's paintings were known by a different name: in 1808 Frederic Quillet, wrote the inventory of the collection of Godoy's cabinet, describing them as "Gipsy".
Later in the inventory in 1814, when the properties seized from Godoy were already in El Depósito de Secuestros of the Alcalá’s Street, The Dressed Maja is aforementioned as "a woman clothed of maja" , a name that became widespread from them on.
Both paintings have been exhibited in El Prado Museum in Madrid since 1910.
Francisco de Goya
El Prado Museum
DESCRIPTION
In The Dressed Maja, the woman dresses a white long garb that
stylizes her beautiful figure. Her waist stands out her a pale pink bow. She
has a short jacket (similar to the bullfighters), whose sleeves are orange and
the cuffs are finished off with a black lace. She is wearing golden shoes.
In both paintings the background is dark but each one has a different
type of brown. The women are lying on divans with white cushions. But In
The Naked Maja the divan is aquamarine and in The Dressed
Maja the divan is yellowish green. Their arms are below their nape.
Both woman are the same and they are looking directly to the observer.
They have curly dark hair, but we don't know if they have their hair upsweep or
not. Their skin is very white skin and their eyes are dark.
ANALYSIS
Because of the rumors that there
was a fling between Goya and María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Álvarez
de Toledo (13th Duchess of Alba), people thought that she was the woman
represented in The Majas. Another hypothesis says that the Maja might have been a
prostitute of high ostentation due to her provocative position. Her rogue
and appealing look can reinforce this idea.
The hypothesis of Duchess of Alba seems to be rejected and if the person who ordered them was the royal minister, it is possible that the model was his mistress Pepita Tudó. What is clear is that the painter presents a really distant model from their predecessors.
Possibly she was a woman of high social class due to the
gold shoes of The Dressed Maja.
It is said that Godoy (first minister and the favorite of Queen Mª Luisa of Parma) dindn't have both paintings
together, but The Dressed Maja
covered The Naked Maja, as a kind
of screen that discovered the other one with a clever mechanism.
In The Naked Maja, the theme is exceptional in the Spanish painting. It
is one of the most fascinating nudes in the history of art.
The Naked Maja is the first female figure
of the history of painting that shows the pubic hair. It is not a mythological
image but a woman of flesh and bone.
In The Dressed Maja , the look is more
intense and penetrating than in The Naked
Maja. The preciosity and the refinement of her dress and the decoration
contrast with her naked sister. In this painting the brush-stokes are more
loose and they are more goyesque. Due to this she seems alive.
For many people, The Dressed Maja is
more attractive than the Naked Maja due
to her tight dress and her provocative position, as we know many times suggesting is more erotic than showing.
There
are a lot of doubts about the reddish object which appears under the cushions, some
people thought that it was the handle of a knife or dagger.
Other sources affirm that it is a closed fan.
Goya drew inspiration from Velázquez's Venus in her Mirror to paint The
Majas. He was a great admirer of
Velázquez.
CONNECTION WITH THE STYLE
Goya was not a typical
painter and after his illness, Goya changed his way of painting completely and he
can’t be classified in a specific style. His style was personal.
In The
Majas, Goya shows us refined and elegant forms, in a set of curves, lights
and shadows. Here Goya shows himself sensual, courteous and in love. The shine of
the clothing produces multiple shades.
There
are impressionist features in The Dressed
Maja, such as the representation of the background with loose, imperfect
brush-strokes…
Goya is one of the most ambiguous figures in
art.
Some paintings inspired on the Majas:
Examples of Goya’s neoclassicism:
SOURCES
http://arte.laguia2000.com/pintura/las-majas-de-goya
http://arte.laguia2000.com/pintura/las-majas-de-goya
http://arte.laguia2000.com/pintura/las-majas-de-goya
WHY I LIKE THESE
PAINTINGS
I love these paintings because both women are
almost exactly identical, and this has merit. Before researching about them I thought that Goya
painted them one above the other, but while I was working on the project, I realized
that I was confused. I like how Goya added details to the body of The Naked
Maja. I saw more painting of this painter and I love
them. I like Goya very much.
1 comment:
You haven't corrected the project. So your final mark is 6.5. See you!
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