The Duchess of Alba and la Beata 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 de Alba y su dueña o La Duquesa de Alba y "la Beata") is a small 1795 oil on canvas painting by the Spanish artist Francisco Goya. It portrays the Duchess María Cayetana de Silva, 13th Duchess of Alba reaching playfully towards her maid (or "duena") Rafaela Luisa Velazquez (known as "la Beata"), who leans away. María holds a red cord under the chin of the older woman, which seems to scare her as
María del Rosario de Silva, Duchess of Alba María del Rosario de Silva, Duchess of Alba Doña María del Rosario de Silva y Gurtubay, Duchess of Alba de Tormes, "suo jure" 9th Marquise of San Vicente del Barco, Grandee of Spain (Madrid, Spain; 4 April 1900 – 11 January 1934) was a Spanish aristocrat and socialite. Single heiress of all the titles of her father, Alfonso de Silva, 16th Duke of Híjar, and of the fortune of her mother, María del Rosario Gurtubay, the young Marquise was one of the beauties of her time. She married in London, on 7 October 1920, to Jacobo Fitz-James Stuart, 17th Duke