María Josefa Pimentel, Duchess of Osuna
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Doña María Josefa Alonso-Pimentel y Téllez-Girón, Duchess of Osuna (26 November 1752 - 5 October 1834) was a Spanish aristocrat, famous for her patronage of artists, writers and scientists.
The Duchess and her husband were among the most important aristocrats who became patrons of the painter Francisco de Goya. The Duchess not only purchased one of the first editions of Los Caprichos, but also commissioned a series of cabinet paintings on the subject of witchcraft from Goya, amongst them El aquelarre (Witches' Sabbath). In the famous portrait Goya painted of her, she is shown standing with noble reserve, and dressed according to the fashion initiated by Queen Marie Antoinette in Paris at that time. In another famous painting, Goya portrayed the ducal family.
One of her children was Joaquina Téllez-Girón, Marchioness of Santa Cruz, who was also portrayed by Goya.
