The duchess' relationship with famed Spanish painter Francisco de Goya and her somewhat eccentric personality have contributed greatly to a continuing interest in her life during the two centuries since her death.

Goya's accompaniment of the recently widowed duchess, combined with certain innuendo expressed in his portraits of her, have exacerbated rumors that the two were lovers.

[1] Although this has never been confirmed, the large number of portraits that the artist painted of the duchess suggests, at the very least, a close platonic relationship between the two.

It, together with a companion piece depicting the same model clothed (La maja vestida), was commissioned by Spanish prime minister Manuel Godoy (the known lover of Spain's queen, María Luisa).

Although her death was ostensibly due to tuberculosis and a fever, more colorful scenarios have been suggested over the years, among them a theory that she was poisoned.