L'altalena

In 1779 Goya was not yet the painter of nightmares he became. He was a young supplier of designs to the royal tapestry works, and this is a full-size cartoon meant to be woven into wool for the bedroom of the heir to the Spanish throne at the El Pardo palace. He delivered it that July. A swing was a loaded subject then, tied to the flirtation Fragonard had given it in France, but Goya turns it into a wholesome outing, a family with children and maids resting in the countryside. The weavers worked straight from this panel, which is why the paint is broad and the colours read clearly across a room.