Picnic on the banks of the Manzanares

In 1776 Goya was 30 and new to Madrid, painting full-size designs that weavers would copy in wool. This one was headed for the dining room of the prince and princess who would later rule as Carlos IV and Maria Luisa. So he gave them something pleasant to look at while they ate: a group of majos and majas, the fashionable working-class Madrilenos, picnicking on the banks of the Manzanares, the shallow river that curls below the city. A young man leans toward a woman selling oranges while his friends drink and lounge on the grass. In the foreground Goya lays out a small still life of bottles and food, close enough to touch. Behind the trees on the right you can just make out the hermitage of the Virgin of the Port, a real chapel that stood by the river then.