Rococo · 1777
The Parasol
A young man shades a seated woman on a bright day. The scene looks casual, but it was designed for a royal dining room wall.
- Made
- 1777
- Style
- Rococo
- Collection
- Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
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From museum to game table
The in-game crop
The card adds paint spaces, rewards and a frame. This crop shows the artwork area used during play, without the card rails.
The short history
What happened here?
Goya made The Parasol as a full-size cartoon for a tapestry. The finished textile was intended for the dining room of the future Charles IV and María Luisa of Parma at El Pardo.
The pair wear fashionable clothing associated with Madrid's majos and majas. A low viewpoint and strong diagonal parasol suit the painting's planned position high on a wall.
The tapestry project gave Goya steady royal work and practice with scenes of modern life. Its easy charm sits far from the darker court pictures and war images he made later.
Look closer
Three details worth finding
- 1The parasol making a strong green diagonal
- 2A small dog curled in the foreground
- 3Sunlight modeled for translation into wool and silk
Sources
Read further
Museum records come first. Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons provide useful public background and image records.