For a century and a half, the story was one of the tidbits in Europe's chronique scandaleuse. Spain's great painter Francisco José Goya y Lucientes, also known as "the Turbulent," took a more than artistic interest in the beautiful Maria Teresa, Duchess of Alba (so gossip whispered in history's ear), and amused himself by painting her in the nude. A well-wisher tipped off her husband, the 13th Duke of Alba, who flew into a boiling Spanish rage. Gallant Goya had to think fast.
At high speed he proceeded to do a second painting...
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