This is one of the many apparent sketches of the Duchess made while Goya stayed at her home in Andalusia. Along with others, he kept the Duchess company during her mourning period following the death of her husband. It is during this time frame that it is speculated that he and the Duchess conducted an affair of some kind. However, the evidense for this assertion rests chiefly on the intimacy of the sketches, and the "Solo Goya" portrait painting of 1797. Other evidense would be in a letter to Martin Zapater, in which he noted that the Duchess had come to his studio for the purpose of have her face painted - with rouge and other makeups. Another is that when the Duchess drafted her will during 1796, she made Goya's son, Xavier, one of the minor beneficeries. The child shown here in the sketch is the Duchess' "favorite" Maria de la Luz.