Francisco Goya, @3The Naked Maja,@1 c. 1800. The painting led the Inquisition in 1815 to summon Goya before the tribunal to identify it and declare whether it was by his hand. In 1930, to commemorate the hundredth dredth anniversary of Goya's death, Spain issued a postage stamp bearing the nude image. I knew nothing of Goya, the Duchess of Alba, the Prado, or even of Spain; but I liked the stamps with the naked woman -- one-peseta dark violet, four-peseta slate-gray, ten-peseta brown-red. "Fun and learning! Collect stamps of the world! Free Goya nude with your first approvals!" Philately stirred in my loins. I said to myself, "Goya nude," and fastened my eye on the poor reproduction of things about which I understood nothing. It must have been like what enchanted Baudelaire, who kept a small version of the naked duchess beside him until his death. "Very strange," he said. "Her bosom rises, diverges till it almost hides the armpits. @3Je m'y connais.@1" The fine uncanceled breasts, the indelible lips. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE GOLD-SEEKERS by HAMLIN GARLAND IN THE LAND WHERE WE WERE DREAMING by DANIEL BEDINGER LUCAS THE MARTYR; INDICATIVE OF PASSION OF PEOPLES APRIL 15, 1865 by HERMAN MELVILLE A DREAM WITHIN A DREAM by EDGAR ALLAN POE THE WHITE CHARGER by ABUS SALT INTERVAL by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN WHILE LOVELINESS GOES BY by ANNA HEMPSTEAD BRANCH ZOPHIEL; OR THE BRIDE OF SEVEN: CANTO 6. BRIDAL OF HELEN by MARIA GOWEN BROOKS |