The Clothed Maja

A young woman reclines on the same cushions and in the same inviting pose as Goya's Nude Maja, but here dressed in a fitted white costume with a rose sash and little gold jacket, the snug fabric somehow no less sensual than bare skin. The two paintings were made as a pair and are both in this collection; the clothed version is thought to have hung in front of the nude, sliding aside to reveal it. Now in the Prado, the Clothed Maja meets our gaze with the same bold, knowing self-possession as her undressed twin.