The pictures on this and the opposite pages are from the famous series of "The Monk and the Brigand." In the collection of Martin A. Ryerson, Esquire, of Chicago. others less talented in subsequent years. But this is a peculiarity of the artist, that he ever worked with varying excellence of technique and of standards, and thus it becomes difficult to date his pictures. A penetration into the intimate life of Goya becomes necessary to an understanding of a large proportion of his paintings executed during the years immediately succeeding 1790. His fame having taken him to court and his charm having made him a social favorite in that time of wild moral aberration, he was in frequent contact with all the great ladies of beauty and wealth, each one of whom There are historians who like to dwell on the naughty side of this strong alliance, for in it all the conventions were broken, but a great love has, like death, a dignity of its own, and with dignity this important alliance is endowed. Goya was crowding fifty when the movements of the court functions threw in his way the gifted, beautiful woman known as Maria Teresa Cayetana de Silva y Alvarez, Duchess of Alba, who was then about thirty-five. From her father she had inherited enormous wealth and her title. Add to these her beauty, her charm, her audacious unconventionality, |