#duchess of Alba

[tiaramania]

There is a new exhibition called 'La Moda en la Casa de Alba/The Fashion in the House of Alba' at Palacio de Liria in Madrid from October 19th to March 31st. It covers two centuries of the family through their fashion with designs by Charles Frederick Worth, Louise Chéruit, Cristóbal Balenciaga, Flora Villareal, Manuel Pertegaz, and Enmanuel Húngaro. The exhibition includes dresses worn by Empress Eugénie of France, also the Countess of Montijo, and the wedding dresses of Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, 18th Duchess of Alba, Eugenia Martínez de Irujo, 12th Duchess of Montoro, and Sofía Palazuelo Barroso, Duchess of Huéscar. You can find out more about visiting here.

There are no jewels on display due to security concerns and the cost of insuring them but I noticed in the background of one of the pictures is a portrait of the Duchess of Huéscar wearing the Alba Strawberry Leaf Coronet.

It looks like it was part of the same photo session as the portrait that was found to be on display at Palacio de las Dueñas in Seville in January.

I need to see a better quality picture of Sofia wearing the tiara!

Strawberry leaf ducal-style coronets are very popular amongst Spanish nobility. The one is made of emeralds, diamonds, and pearls and was supposedly a gift from Empress Eugénie to her sister, María Francisca de Sales de Palafox Portocarrero y Kirkpatrick, 16th Duchess of Peñaranda de Duero, wife of the 15th Duke of Alba. Here it is worn by María del Rosario Falcó y Osorio, 21st Countess of Siruela, and María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, 9th Marchioness of San Vicente del Barco, wives of the 16th and 17th Dukes respectively.

Of course it was most famously worn by María del Rosario Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart y Silva, 18th Duchess of Alba, and most titled person in the world before she passed away in 2014.

If anyone goes to the exhibition and is able to get better shot of the portrait, I would very much appreciate if you would send it to me.

[usergreenpixel]

Hey Neighbors! So, this is only related to Napoleonic era very loosely, but I recently found out something interesting about Goya.

Or well, not GOYA HIMSELF per se, but one of the people he knew.

Meet María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva Álvarez de Toledo, the 13th Duchess of Alba, a patron of Goya and his ALLEGED lover/muse. We don’t know if they were lovers. The paintings below are Goya’s btw:

So, what is important to know here is that the Duchess of Alba was one of the wealthiest people in all of Spain.

One of the last descendants of a powerful aristocratic family, the Duchess was married off to a cousin at age 12 to keep their titles and wealth in the same family.

There is even a theory that the model who posed for The Nude Maja and The Clothed Maja was this particular woman, but this is not proven:

The Duchess died quite suddenly in her forties, officially of tuberculosis. Not much as truly known about her, though we DO know that she and her husband were childless.

However, the Duchess did have a foster daughter of sorts!

Meet María de la Luz, a child of Cuban slaves basically gifted to the Duchess, but promptly freed and raised as a daughter:

While the girl definitely was a victim of slavery and colonialism, she was the closest thing the Duchess had to a daughter and she even became a beneficiary of a large chunk of the impressive fortune of her foster mother.

María de la Luz could not become the next Duchess of Alba though, as Cayetana de Alba had male blood relatives who ended up getting the title and the lands, but María de la Luz was definitely set for life and still became very rich thanks to the inheritance.

We don’t know what happened to the girl, but there is a book that explores her story in the realm of fiction, and I think I’m going to review it in the future…

Here is the book btw!

It’s written by an Uruguayan author, who apparently wrote a book about Frev too…

The title here is translated as Cayetana’s Daughter, as that was essentially the relationship between the Duchess and María de la Luz.

P. S. ALL of the artwork shown was made by Goya, including the portrait of the Duchess with the baby.

[mrskennedy]

Jacqueline Kennedy greets her friend and hostess, Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, the Duchess of Alba, after arriving in Seville, Spain on April 15th, 1966.

[royal-confessions]

“The Duchess of Alba,Cayetana Fitz-James Stuart, had a graceful style in her youth.” - Text & Image Submitted by cenacevedo15

[europesroyalsjewels]

Alba Rusa Tiara ♕ Joseph Saidian & Sons Jewelers

[furiouscrusadeavenue]

Cayetana, Duchess of Alba.

[isadomna]

Goya and the Duchess of Alba

The story of the relationship between Goya and the Duchess of Alba is shrouded in mystery and secrecy, and has captured the imaginations of authors since the middle of the 19th century. It is not only Goya's artistic crisis, which began with his traumatic illness in 1792-93 in Cadiz, and the creation of his famous "Caprichos" series, but also his affair with the Duchess of Alba that make the period in Goya's life between 1790 and 1800 so intriguing. 

Goya executed several well-known portraits of the duchess, most of them during his stay at Sanlúcar de Barrameda shortly after the death in 1796 of her husband. Goya's accompaniment of the recently widowed duchess, combined with certain innuendo expressed in his portraits of her, have exacerbated rumors that the two were lovers. Although this has never been confirmed, the large number of portraits that the artist painted of the duchess suggests, at the very least, a close platonic relationship between the two.

[eyes-of-laura-mars]

[emvidal]

[dindleseed]

Another Life.

[the1920sinpictures]

1925 c. Armand-Albert Rateau lounge of melted bronze and patent antique green. The original was designed for the Duchess of Alba, this copy comes from the terrace of Jeanne Lanvin's private hotel in Paris. A similar model was in the living room of the Callot Sisters (fashion designers) sewing house in the Elegance Pavilion at the 1925 Arts Decoratif Exhibition. From Art Deco, Avant Garde and Modernism, FB.

[romanticism-art-history]

The Duchess of Alba Arranging her Hair by Francisco Goya (1746 - 1828)

[liminalmemories21]

WIP Wednesday

tagged by @orchidscript, @strandnreyes, @paperstorm, @whatsintheboxmh, @carlos-in-glasses,

@chicgeekgirl89, and @reyesstrand Thank you!

man, knave-verse Paris caper is really just going to be a long series of in-jokes with myself.

“So, what’s the plan?” Sara finally asks. “I know you have a plan.”

Caffrey doesn’t argue.  “The plan is we all play ourselves.”  Sara and TK both raise their eyebrows at him. Caffrey shrugs.  “He knows all of us.”  Looks at Carlos.  “Except you.”  He looks at Carlos thoughtfully.  “Tell me Detective, how’s your noblesse oblige?”

Carlos looks at TK and raises an eyebrow, because what on earth is the appropriate response to that.  TK looks dubious.  “You’re thinking the lost heir?”

Caffrey shakes his head.  “The Dowager Duchess’s cat.”  TK grin is a slow moving sunrise.  “With a side of the Emperor’s New Clothes.”

TK bounces on the balls of his feet, and Carlos waits for the feeling he’d had when TK did this with Jack - the feeling of creeping dread, the feeling that he was losing TK - but this is nothing like that.  Every conversation TK had had with Jack had been tinged with grief, with loss, with desperation.  There’s nothing but glee in TK’s expression now, a little boy with a shiny new truck to play with.  

“Baby,” TK says seriously, looking at Carlos and then sweeping a bow that Errol Flynn would have been proud of, “Or should I say, your grace, the Duke of Positano?”

Caffrey makes a noise.  “Duke of Alba, he won’t have to fake the accent.”

TK snaps his fingers.  “Good point.”  Swings back to Carlos.  “Your Grace, the Duke of Alba.”

Sara’s dry voice cuts through Caffrey and TK’s scheming.  “The current Duke of Alba is 76.”  She taps her finger on her mouth.  “Both of his sons are married, and too high profile - “  She hmms, “There is a persistent rumor that the Duke had an illegitimate son though, and that was why his marriage was annulled.”   Carlos sees her notice, and then carefully pretend she hasn’t noticed, and that she isn’t secretly pleased, by the look Caffrey is giving her.  Carlos pretends not to notice, because that’s just polite, but the degree of sexual tension in the room just hit eleven.

tagging @freneticfloetry (because I know you have something), @alchemistc (because I adore your Buck/Tommy), @theghostofashton (because Olympics AU, getting more timely by the hour), and @walkinginland (because I want that Chris story)

[mrskennedy]

Jacqueline Kennedy attends a debutante ball at the Palace De Pilatos in Seville, Spain with her hostess and friend, Maria del Rosario, the 18th Duchess of Alba

17 April 1966

[royal-confessions]

“The Duchess of Alba's first wedding's dress was absolutely gorgeous... Just like her!” - Submitted by Anonymous

[europesroyalsjewels]

Alba Emerald Necklace ♕ Carlos Fitz-James Stuart, 19th Duke of Alba