El columpio (1779)

Goya, Francisco de (1746-1828)

El columpio (The Swing)
1779
Oil on canvas, 260 x 165 cm
Museo del PradoMadrid

This cartoon, the pair to The Washerwomen (P-786), depicts three women and four elegantly dressed children with their dog on a country outing. Goya masterfully utilizes the figures in different planes to establish relations between foreground and background, with the shepherds’ glances answered by the woman whose back is to the viewer. The peaceful everyday country scene thus becomes a representation of a date between the nurses and their suitors. This was a tapestry cartoons for the antechamber to the Prince and Princess of Asturias’ bedroom at the El Pardo Palace. (MNP)