MarÃa Cayetana de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba
Maria del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Álvarez de Toledo ( * June 10, 1762; † July 23, 1802 in Sanlúcar la Mayor ) was the 13th Duchess of Alba.
Life
She was married at the age of 13 years with the Marquis of Villafranca José Álvarez de Toledo y Gonzaga ( 1756-1796 ). Her husband died when she was 34 years. It is considered possible that the Duchess from the early 1790s had an affair with the painter Francisco de Goya, which she visited several times, inter alia, on her country estate in Piedrahíta. He recorded several times 1792-1801 and published in 1799 the cycle of Caprichos depicting the Duchess. " In fact, it is likely to have acted in this romance about a freak of unbridled lady ". The Spanish poet Juan Meléndez Valdés (1754-1817) wrote in a poem about " these bright eyes / this smiling mouth " of the Duchess.
Artistic work-up
The supposed affair with Goya was picked up by various artists and embellished partially free. Lion Feuchtwanger's novel Goya or the evil path of knowledge deals with the affair in fictionalized form, leading, for example, the collapse of Goya in 1792 on a dispute with the Duchess back. In Carlos Saura's film Goya in 1999, the relationship of the painter plays a central role with the Duchess of Alba.