The Duchess of Alba and la Beata Beata" is considered to form part of Goya's "caprichos", and was painted shortly after he fell deaf. It is signed "Goya in 1795" in the lower right corner. It is in the collection of the Museo del Prado, Madrid, having been acquired from a private collection. Goya portrayed María Cayetana de Silva a number of other times, notably "The White Duchess" of the same year and the 1797 "Portrait of the Duchess of Alba". The Duchess of Alba and la Beata The Duchess of Alba and "la Beata" (or The Duchess of Alba and the Pious Woman; Spanish: La duquesa
James Roberts (painter) was the reason her father agreed to sit for Roberts, that the result was uncharacteristic, and that the book shown was a novel. Roberts was also a scene painter at Blenheim Palace, in 1788 and 1789. In 1789 he was designer for "The Maid of the Oaks", and "False Appearances". a translation by Henry Seymour Conway of "Trompeurs Dehors" by Louis de Boissy. By 1795, Roberts had an appointment as portrait painter to the Duke of Clarence. He exhibited again annually at the Royal Academy from 1795 to 1799. The National Portrait Gallery, London holds 52 portraits by Roberts or