Mujeres con cántaros (boceto)

This is a quick oil sketch, Goya's first thought for a tapestry cartoon he was making for the king's private office at the Escorial. By 1791 he had grown impatient with the whole business of designing tapestries, complaining that the work was tedious and beneath him, and yet these last ones are among his liveliest. Two girls balance pitchers on their heads beside a fountain, aware of being watched, while an older woman leans in to whisper — a matchmaker, a theme Goya returned to often. Within a year or so of finishing the series he fell gravely ill and lost his hearing for good. He was 46.