150309 Art Talk: 9th Mar 2015: Goya and the Duchess of Alba

Date: Monday 9th Mar 2015 10:30

Location: Salón de Actos, Espai la Senieta, Moraira (next to the large free car park)

Subject: Goya and the Duchess of Alba (Change of Programme)

Lecturer: Maureen Stanley

Free entry

Goya and the Duchess of Alba – An exploration of the affair between the Court Painter and the Duchess

Much mystery and controversy surrounds the story of the Duchess and her affair with the Court Painter, Francisco de Goya, but it is said ‘she drove him insane.’

Maria Teresa Cayetana de Silva, the 13th Duchess of Alba was a ‘free spirit’, unconventional and spontaneous, unhampered by snobbery or class prejudice. Beautiful and intelligent, she had a brief affair with Francisco de Goya during the year 1795 when Goya was Court Painter to Charles IV and Queen Maria Luisa. We shall follow Goya’s history and his paintings, with special emphasis on those he produced of the Duchess herself. Cayetana’s life will also be illustrated up to her death at the tender age of 40 years.

The idea for this talk began when the speaker bought a copy of a tapestry in a little backstreet in Budapest a few years ago, little knowing what she would discover ….