The Tobacco Guards

Tobacco in Spain was a royal monopoly, and armed guards, the resguardo, patrolled the roads to stop it being smuggled. Goya painted these five of them for a tapestry, one of a set he delivered to the Royal Factory in 1779 and 1780 to be woven for the antechamber of the Prince and Princess of Asturias at the El Pardo palace outside Madrid. He was in his early thirties and still building a court career, and he gave the scene a sly joke: the standing guard grins and points our eye to his companion in front, who is tucking something under his jacket, very likely the same tobacco they are paid to protect. This is early Goya, sunny and anecdotal, a long way from the dark work of his later years. The finished tapestry, in wool and silk, would hang on a palace wall while the painted version sat rolled in storage.