Spanish Cartoons

During the closing decades of the 18th century the painter Francisco Goya was a busy man. Many projects and duties claimed his time, but only one of them is looked at here. From the late 1770s through the late 1790s the artist supplied cartoon sketches to serve as patterns for the tapestry weavers employed by the Spanish Crown. Below are some of Goya's visions – scenes from the lives of contemporary workers and townspeople (individuals who would never be allowed inside the palaces where their images would hang). Tapestries no longer carry any of the prestige they once did, but surviving tapestry cartoons by famous masters have gained more than all the status the tapestries themselves have lost.

Francisco Goya
Injured Mason
1786-87
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Shepherd Playing Dulzaina
1786
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
The Parasol
1777
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Grape Harvest
1786
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Hunter beside a Stream
1786-87
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Tobacco Guards
1777-80
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Wedding
1792
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Women Tossing a Straw Manikin in a Blanket
1791-92
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Woodcutters
1777-80
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Climbing a Tree
1791-92
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Boys with Mastiffs
1786
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Playing Soldiers
1779
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Horse & Rider
1791-92
tapestry cartoon
Prado

Francisco Goya
Blind Man's Bluff
1788
tapestry cartoon
Prado

I am grateful for the beautiful reproductions made available by Museo del Prado.