READING REFLECT #2

Reflection on “The Duchess of Alba as a Maja” Name Professor Course Date There are usually certain symbols or practices that get embraced by a society, to help them carve out their own identity and further develop their nationalism. People will always embrace such; first to have a sense of belonging and secondly, to subtly revolt against the existing social setup. Tara Zanardi’s analyses of Francisco de Goya's portrait "The Duchess of Alba as a Maja" (1797) give great insight into the hopeful cultural phenomenon that defined the Spanish Enlightenment, affecting the art, dress, and civility through this time. Indeed, Zanardi discloses the core of the Duchess of Alba's self-styling, which is hermetic, seducing the perplexity of her infatuation with popular Spanish fashions and customs. The disguise as a Maja of the lower class reveals the contradictory challenge of the duchess' identity as the events further open up to alternative feminine roles and presumed licentiousness of the lower class for personal and political goals. Zanardi’s analysis clarifies the vicarious nature of the duchess's encounters with the lower orders in art and reality—from Mannerist portraits to the bullfight. This is a light, flirtatious role-play typical of courtiers of the Age of Enlightenment; it represents a broader change in aristocratic preference for folkloric traditions. Zanardi highlights...