Die Mädchen mit dem Krug

By 1791 Goya was painting for a king but had grown tired of this particular job. For years he had turned out large cartoons that weavers copied into tapestries for the royal palaces, and he now felt the work beneath a court painter. This was one of his last, made for Charles IV's office at the Escorial. Two young women balance covered pitchers on their heads while an older woman leans in to whisper to one of them. That whispered aside points to a theme Goya returned to often, the matchmaker steering a girl toward marriage. The careful balancing act on the head was read at the time as a sign of a woman's virtue.