Le Maçon ivre (esquisse)

Goya painted this small oil in the autumn of 1786 as a proposal, something to show the king before he committed to the full-size design. It was meant for a tapestry to hang in the dining room of the prince who would become Charles IV, at the El Pardo palace outside Madrid. Two workmen carry a third down from the scaffolding. He has lost his trousers and a shoe, and in this version his mates can't quite hide a smirk at the drunk. When Goya worked the scene up into the final cartoon, he changed their faces, and the mockery turned to concern, the title shifting from a drunk mason to an injured one. These were years when the crown was issuing its first edicts on building-site safety.