The Nude Maja (La maja desnuda)
c. 1795–1800 · Oil on canvas · Museo del Prado, Madrid
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About this work
- Artist
- Francisco Goya (1746–1828)
- Year
- c. 1795–1800
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Original size
- 98 × 191 cm
- Collection
- Museo del Prado, Madrid
- Movement
- Romanticism
A young woman lies naked on a couch heaped with white pillows, hands behind her head, and looks straight at the viewer. Goya painted her around 1795 to 1800, probably for Manuel Godoy, the royal favourite and prime minister, in whose collection she is first recorded in 1800, hanging in a private cabinet reserved for nudes alongside Velázquez's Rokeby Venus. The pose recalls the classical Sleeping Ariadne, but there is no Cupid and no myth: this is a contemporary Spanish woman, which is what made the painting so transgressive. Godoy's collection was seized in 1808 and the picture was impounded by the Inquisition in 1814. Who she was has never been established; the Duchess of Alba and Godoy's mistress Pepita Tudó have both been proposed, and recent X-rays have disproved the old claim that Goya repainted the head. Together with its clothed pendant it has hung in the Prado since 1901.
This print reproduces the whole work, uncropped, from a high-resolution scan of the original. The original is in the public domain.
Where it works
A woman on white pillows meeting the viewer's gaze, a wide reclining nude for a bedroom over the bed at 24×16 in black. Deep green, charcoal or warm grey; hang it alone, or with the clothed version as its painted pair.
- Style
- Romanticism painting
- Era
- 18th century (c. 1795–1800)
- Orientation
- Landscape
- Mood
- intimate
- Rooms
- living room, dining room
- Good gift for
- housewarming, art lovers
Size. Prints at 18×12, 24×16 in — 18×12 for a shelf, desk or a gallery-wall grid; 24×16 above a console or sideboard.
Framing. The gallery ground is part of the print, so frame it without a mat — black suits the deep tones of this period; oak lightens it.
Pairing. Pairs as a set of three with other famous painting prints (10% off three or more).
Details & materials
Shipping & returns
Is this the whole painting, or a crop?
Is The Nude Maja (La maja desnuda) in the public domain?
What is it printed on?
When was The Nude Maja (La maja desnuda) painted, and in what medium?
What size works above a sofa or bed?
About this design
The Madten promise
An exhibition poster
The same artwork as a gallery exhibition poster — title, artist & date typeset beneath the image on a soft ground.
