In Goya’s original painting, a pious old woman teeters back supported by her walking stick, she thrusts a cross into the face of the glamorous Duchess of Alba, who is bearing down on the old woman with a blood red ribbon, pushing her towards a darkened corner. A contest between good and evil, faith and force. On the surface, this scenario looked like a playful game where the Duchess coerces her ‘willing’ maid into submission by ‘pretending’ to be the face of evil; this is just a ‘game’, but is it?

Read more about La Beata by Goya here.