Word: duchess
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Ignacio Zuloaga, the greatest Spanish painter of the recent past (one of whose El Grecos has recently gone to the Metropolitan Museum), was my godfather. Zuloaga was aware of the existence of the word "Solo" traced in the sand at the feet of the duchess, which has again come to light with the cleaning of the portrait. His interpretation of the word was "alone" or "lonely"-Lonely Goya-which would indicate the contrary of what the "experts" strive to prove with their translation "only" (which is, customarily, solamente...
Although the Alba family of Spain denies it to this day, most of the experts are convinced that Francisco Goya had a love affair with the duchess of his time. After the duke died in 1796 and the beautiful duchess retired from society, at 34, to mourn alone on the Alba estate, the painter apparently joined her. His great portrait of 1797, now hanging at the Hispanic Society Museum in Manhattan, is the clue. A vital and imperious creature at the peak of womanhood, she stands dressed in mourning, dramatically pointing to the sand by her toes. On her pointing...
...smash it-if I have the courage." Few of the 27 pieces (at $800 to $6,075)in last week's exhibition failed to pass César's own standards of brutality and ugliness. Homage to Brancusi is a big iron egg covered with spikes. The Duchess is equipped with a gizzard made of welded bolts, rods and screws...
...lure away the vultures that are ever present in Kano, even on the tree-shaded grounds of Kano's Central Hotel, carrion had been dumped outside the city, and by the time the royal visitors flew in last week scarcely a bird could be seen. The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, representing their niece, Queen Elizabeth, were on their way to Kaduna to attend the biggest durbar (homage to princes) in northern Nigeria's history...
...world is too much with them. La Alba's common touch has drawn deep frowns from the Queen, and to save Goya's neck, the duchess renounces his attentions and ships him back to Madrid. Feverish at the thought of her fickleness, he churns out the agonized, hellborn Caprichos. In the end, the lovers are briefly, sentimentally reunited at the duchess' deathbed...