This cartoon was for the main tapestry in the bedroom of the Prince and Princess of Asturias at the El Pardo Palace (P00779-P00784). The composition's setting —the outskirts of Madrid— links the subjects of the tapestries from the bedroom's antechamber to those in the bedroom itself.

The scene constitutes a compositional tour de force in which Goya proves his mastery of perspective and the use of painterly technique, of light and color, to create space and relations of proximity and distance without the viewer ever noticing the rigor and dryness of its geometry.

In this painting, the artist reveals his knowledge of the great Italian artists from both the Renaissance and the Baroque.

Access to the series of tapestry cartoons: The Fair in Madrid (P00779); The Pottery Vendor (P00780); The Soldier and the Lady (P00781); The Hawthorn Seller (P00782); Boys playing at Soldiers (P00783); A Stickball Game (P00784).