Folk Figure, Artist's Model. She is considered by many scholars to have been the subject of one of the most controversial works in the entire artistic canon, Francisco de Goya's 1797 "La maja desnuda". Born Josefa Petra Francesca de Paula de Tudo to a somewhat well-off family, she, along with her mother and sisters, moved into the home of the powerful Manuel de Godoy when she was in her mid-teens (her father having died some years earlier). Pepita became Godoy's mistress around 1800, though Queen Maria Luisa forced a political marriage of the Minister to a lady named Maria Theresa. The arrangement was a bit unconventional; the lawful wife carried the title, while Pepita ran the home, bore the two sons, and acted as hostess. (In 1807, Godoy finally got Pepita her own noble designation, Countess de Castillo Fiel). Following Maria Theresa's death in 1828, she and Godoy were free to marry, though there were rumors of a clandestine ceremony years previously; they lived in Paris from 1832 on in reduced financial circumstances. In her final years, Pepita, in a vain attempt to reclaim family property, returned to Madrid, where she died of tubercular meningoencephalitis. Pepita was novelized by Ceferino Palencia in "Pepita Tudo", and was portrayed by Penelope Cruz in "Volaverunt". Her image has been reproduced and marketed countless times, including on Spanish postage stamps that were, for awhile, banned in the US. Goya took a large amount of political heat for "La maja desnuda", and in 1815 was summoned before the Spanish Inquisition and stripped of his position as Court painter; as far as is known, he never explained his reasons for the "twin" images, virtually identical save for clothing and the lack thereof.