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Flying birds
Francisco Goya·1786
Historical Context
Flying Birds is a tapestry cartoon from 1786, designed for the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Bárbara. The image of birds in flight against an open sky demonstrates the atmospheric landscape skills Goya developed through years of observing the Castilian terrain around Madrid. The cartoon belongs to the later series of designs for the Pardo palace, where Goya's work was moving beyond the figure-centered compositions of his earlier cartoons toward a greater integration of figures with landscape. Now in the Fundación Goya en Aragón, the painting is preserved in the artist's home region. These later cartoons foreshadow the panoramic landscape backgrounds that would characterize some of Goya's most ambitious later compositions.
Technical Analysis
Goya captures the birds in flight with dynamic brushwork and keen observation of avian movement, using the bright palette of his decorative style.
Look Closer
- ◆Notice the birds in flight rendered with dynamic brushwork, each creature caught in the movement of flight.
- ◆Look at the open sky that forms the primary setting — an unusual composition in which atmosphere dominates over figure.
- ◆Observe the bright, airy palette that Goya developed for his later Pardo palace cartoons.
- ◆The birds are painted with keen observation of avian movement, reflecting Goya's interest in the natural world.
- ◆Find the landscape details that ground the birds in a recognizable Castilian terrain.
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