An intense snowfall serves as Goya's interpretation of winter, which is the subject of this composition. Along with this everyday representation, however, Goya introduces a social theme, as he often did in his tapestry cartoons. Three cloaked peasants return home after what appears to have been an unsuccessful attempt to buy a pig. They carry nothing and their gazes reveal that they are cold and hungry. Two other, better-dressed figures —probably servants from some manner house— carry an enormous pig that has been gutted. Withdrawn, with his tail between his legs, the peasants' starving and equally humble dog is the first to foresee the collision between these two groups.

This cartoon was for one of the tapestries intended for the Prince of Asturias' dining room at the El Pardo Palace.