Truth About Art Love Story

It was thought to be one of the most romantic love affairs in the history of Spanish art, reports the Independent, but the liaison between the rough and ready genius Francisco de Goya and the beautiful, capricious Duchess of Alba, the grandest grandee in Spain, has now been described as an "urban legend". According to a new book by Manuela Mena, a Goya specialist at the Prado museum, in Madrid, the social gulf between the two was never bridged. "It was an inequality he tried to overcome, but as an artist, not a lover," she said. Goya painted the duchess, Cayetana de Silva, several times, and she is said to have modelled for his twin "Majas" (beauties), one naked and one clothed, which are considered among the most erotic portraits in modern art. The naked Maja offers the first example of female pubic hair in painting, but many consider the clothed version even more erotic. Her face is not that of the duchess, but the body bears close comparison to the delicate curves in the other painting. Irish Art