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Five boys play at riding on each other´s shoulders in the game called “Chicken Fights” or “Horse and Rider” in a setting of hills and woods. This work is one of the cartoons for a series of gay, playful tapestries intended for the bedrooms of the infantas —the daughters of the future Carlos IV (1748-1819) and María Luisa de Parma (1751-1788)— at the El Pardo Palace in Madrid. Goya rec
A circle of ten Majos and Majas play blind man´s buff on the banks of what may be the Manzanares River. This work is the only sketch for the cartoon Goya painted for a series of playful and gay tapestries intended for the bedroom of the Infantas —the daughters of the future Carlos IV (1748-1819) and María Luisa de Parma (1751-1818)— at Madrid´s El Pardo Palace. Originally titled
A full-length portrait of Queen María Luis de Parma (1751-1819), wife of King Carlos IV (1748-1819), wearing a large feathered hat and French lace, with a seventeenth-century style bustle and the sort of large skirt flattened in front and back that replaced the farthingale. The only jewelry she wears is the Cruz Estrellada award. Her hand rests on a table covered with a tablecloth on which
An equestrian portrait of Queen Maria Luisa of Parma (1751-1818), the wife of King Carlos IV (1748-1819), wearing the uniform of a colonel of the Guardia de Corp. This painting was made as a pair to the equestrian portrait of the King, which is also at the Prado Museum (P00719). Goya admirably emphasizes the Queen´s strong personality. She mounts “Marcial,” a horse given her by Manuel Godoy (1767-
A group of youths play in the countryside. The gay circle consists mainly of persons dressed as majos and majas, the popular clothing that also became stylish among the aristocracy. There are also two figures wearing elegant velvet dress coats and feathered hats, in the French style. Originally titled “The ladle game” because of the wooden spoon the blindfolded youth uses to find his &
An equestrian portrait of the Spanish monarch wearing the uniform of a colonel of the Guardia de Corps, with other insignias, such as the Sash of the Order of Carlos III, that of Saint Genaro and the Golden Fleece. This painting was made as a pair to the equestrian portrait of his wife, Queen Maria Luisa de Parma (1751-1818), which is also at the Prado Museum (P720). The composition reveals Velasq
This tapestry cartoon shows a hunter loading a shotgun, with a dog lying at his feet and other hunters behind him. This work is as fine example of Goya´s interest in Nature. He perfectly integrates the hunter´s figure among the sinuous silhouettes of the trees whose vertical elongation fits the format of this composition. The resulting tapestry was intended to hang in the dining room o
This portrait of the family of King Carlos IV (1748-1819) was painted in Aranjuez and Madrid in the spring and summer of 1800, shortly after Goya was named First Chamber Painter. It clearly show´s the artist´s mastery at individualizing characters. The forerunners to this complex composition are Louis-Michel van Loo´s Portrait of Felipe V and his Family (P02283) and Velázquez´s Las Meninas
Goya never actually painted the cartoon for this scene, which is one of his masterpieces, and the most popular of a series intended for the bedroom of the infantas in Madrid's El Pardo Palace. The project was suspended following the death of Carlos III. Here, the painter manages to capture the sensation of life and the hustle and bustle of a crowd sitting in the meadow. The landscape opens onto th
