the washerwomen

The Washerwomen from 1780, in the Prado, is a tapestry cartoon depicting the working women who washed Madrid's laundry at the city's rivers and water fountains — a specific, observable feature of everyday urban life that Goya treated with the same observational sympathy he brought to peasants, shepherds, and market vendors in his documentary series of popular scenes. The very large scale of this work — 257.5 by 166 cm — indicates it was designed for a significant architectural surface, and the composition's broad, clear arrangement of figures in outdoor light reflects the demands of a work that needed to read clearly and decoratively at a distance. Goya's treatment of working women in his tapestry series — whether washerwomen, water carriers, or market vendors — tends toward dignified observation rather than picturesque sentimentality, and these figures have an honest physical presence that distinguishes them from the more idealised female types of French decorative painting. The Prado's collection of the complete tapestry cartoon series provides unequalled access to this foundational phase of his career.

Goya renders the working women with naturalistic energy and the bright, decorative palette required for tapestry, using the riverside setting to create a composition that balances labor with pastoral charm.