Maria del Rosario Weiss

Biography She was born in Madrid, the daughter of Leocadia Zorrilla and, according to baptismal documents, her husband of seven years, Isidore Weiss, a German-Jewish jeweler whose family lived in Madrid. However, in 1811, Weiss had sworn out a legal complaint accusing Leocadia of "illicit conduct". This, together with the fact that she went to live with Goya in 1817 (as his housekeeper, officially) fueled speculation that Rosario was Goya's child; or certainly not Weiss' in any event.

Goya began giving her drawing lessons, together with her first writing lessons, when she was only seven. She studied with him until age fifteen and then with architect Tiburcio Pérez from 1823 to 1824. Later, when he was living in self-exile in Bordeaux, she was the student of a local wallpaper designer. thumb Portrait of her brother, GuillermoAfter Goya's death in 1828, Leocadia's relationship with his family became strained (she had been left out of Goya's will and felt that Javier had treated her poorly) so, as soon as possible, she and Rosario returned to Spain. That was in 1833, following an amnesty for those who had opposed King Ferdinand VII.