The painting "Mach Nude" stands out in the gallery of portraits of the famous artist. First of all, because this is one of the first paintings in the world, which depicts a real naked model, and not the goddess or heroine of myths. The second reason for interest in the painting is the relationship between the model and the artist. Let’s try to figure out what attracts this painting written more than two centuries ago.
Maha Naked and Maha Dressed. Nuances
The painting “Makha Nude” is one of the artist’s two paired works. The second is indicated in the title of the current item. This is Maha Dressed. This is not at all a repetition of Titian's “Love of the earth and heaven”, it is not a diptych! Few doubts that the second painting was made by the artist to hide the first, so that in the age of darkness of the Spanish Inquisition to defend the image of real, hot, human sensuality, not constrained by social and religious conventions and dogmas. The second picture is a clear copy of the first. It is also technically well executed (the great Goya could draw a human hand with one wave of a brush), but they pass by without noticing.
And the painting “Naked Mach” shouts: “Look how beautiful My woman is!” And people really are watching.
That is why this woman in the picture is precisely “mach”, and not a girl, for example. Both the artist himself and his entourage, of course, considered him to be “macho”, that is, despising conventions, strong, strong-willed, fearless, violently resisting the oppression of reality.
The subculture of "Machism" in Madrid during the time of F. Goya
Maho - this word sounded loudly in Spain of the 18-19th century. Appearing as a protest against the increasing French influence on the life and culture of Spain, this movement captured almost all layers of Spanish society. The bulk of it was made up of wealthy provincials who had enough money to dress in Spanish national clothes, and urban commoners (servants, cooks, artisans). These people wanted to spit on the laws and rules established in society. In their free time, they gathered in the city streets, making noise and having fun: they danced with castanets and tambourine, deliberately vividly and emotionally sorted out relationships with each other, sometimes with the use of knives, which were mandatory for men and women who wore them for garters.
The author of the painting “Mach Nude” Goya is clearly “Macho”. Men were called that way (compare with the current meaning of the word "macho"). And women are “mach.”
Maha was the personification of a real Spanish woman: a combination of indomitable temperament, romanticism, picturesqueness and a national accent in clothes (a mantilla is obligatory!) And freedom. Simply put, Carmen from the opera of the same name.
The life of all the Machos was so unusual and colorful, especially for the Spaniards who loved the effects during the Inquisition, which forbade everything in the world, that even very rich people tried to look like Machos, at least with clothes.
The Duchess of Alba also considered herself a “maha”.
Francisco Goya and Duchess of Alba
Known for centuries thanks to the genius of the great Goya, the Duchess of Alba (full name: donna Maria del Pilar Teresa Caetana de Silva and Alvarez de Toledo marquise de Villabranca, the Duchess of Alba) was not only a very rich and noble patroness, but also a lover of the artist. It is impossible to doubt this, since looking at the canvas, it is easy to imagine the relationship between the artist and the model. It is as if to see how the one who painted the picture “Mach Nude” creates the strongest sexual impact on the viewer, work.
And the second work was written to protect against the Inquisition, not only the artist himself, but also his beautiful lover. It was she who was represented to the ministers of the church, asking about what the artist and his rich philanthropist were doing. It is also well known that the artist also had to redo the face of the model in both paintings - this is not the face of Dona Maria del Pilar.
Francisco Goya's Life in Literature and Cinema
Additional fame to the great artist Francisco Goya and his "Mach naked" certainly brought an appeal to his fate, the German writer Lyon Feuchtwanger. His novel “Goya, or the Hard Way of Knowledge” (1951) is very famous and loved by several generations. He talks about the history of writing the painting “Maja Nude,” about the relationship between the Duchess of Alba and Francisco Goya, like a novel where the loving duchess, who satisfies her vanity, uses the temperament of a genius and her own body to create an artistic miracle. This is a story about the complexity of human feelings, it makes you think: the Duchess of Alba is an extravagant and spoiled child for whom everything in this life is a game, or a smart and madly in love with an artist woman. Just a maha.
From 1958 to 2006, 5 films about the artist were released in the world. The plot of the three is based on a novel between F. Goya and the Duchess of Alba, as well as the creation of the painting “Naked Mach”.
One of the best films was directed by the famous director Bigas Luna, the main role was played by Aytana Sanchez-Gijon, the main female role was the world famous beauty Penelope Cruz.
Great future for work
We can assume that the novel and films about Francisco Goya will go away, becoming a boring classic, but it is unlikely that the author of the painting “Naked Mach” will remain forgotten by descendants, like Rafael, Durer or Andrei Rublev are not forgotten today.