Collection/1700s

The Naked Maja by Francisco Goya

A woman lies on green cushions, arms behind her head, looking straight out. Goya painted her around 1800, probably for the Spanish prime minister Manuel Godoy, who kept her in a private cabinet.

It is one of the earliest nudes in Western art of a real, contemporary woman rather than a goddess. In 1815 the Spanish Inquisition summoned Goya to explain it.