A group of washerwoman work or rest alongside the Manzanares River. One of them dozes in another's lap and is the object of a practical joke in which the latter attempts to frighten her with a lamb. Two others are busy washing in the background.

Here, Goya presents one of the most naturalistic and beautiful landscapes from his entire production of tapestry cartoons. It depicts an area near Madrid, with the Manzanares River that flows down from the Guadarrama Mountains whose snowy blue peaks are visible in the background. The silvery tonalities and the interpretation of the background mountains are clearly drawn from the works of Diego Velasquez.

This is part of a set of cartoons for tapestries to be hung in the antechamber to the bedroom of the Prince and Princess of Asturias at the El Pardo Palace.