El quitasol

This cartoon formed a pair with The Drinker; the resulting tapestries were designed to be hung over the doors on the east side of the dining room.

The composition of The Parasol is one of the most elegant of all of Goya's works, and one of the most well-known in Spanish painting. It is executed with a low perspective, taking into account its elevated position over the door. The composition has a pyramid-shaped arrangement, responding to the classical influences that Goya learned from Mengs. To give a sensation of depth, the painter arranges the figures into two planes, separated by a mound of earth. The maja sits in the foreground and the ground behind her hides the legs of the majo who is holding the parasol. Both of them are framed by the landscape in the background. This same layout is the one used in the companion cartoon, The Drinker.

The lady is very coquettish, with pale skin and wearing fashionable clothes, far from the gypsy girls and orange-sellers represented by Goya in the other cartoons in the series. Although her gaze is directed at the viewer, her gestures are modest and the fan in her hand is closed to avoid suggesting any intimate messages, whilst her companion protects her from the glare of the sun with the parasol. A small dog is resting curled up in her lap.

This work stands out for its explosion of colours, the contrast between the yellow of the skirt and the blue of the bodice, the bold green of the parasol that is balanced out by the green of the trees on the other side of the composition, and the graduation of the light on the lady's face, filtered through the parasol.

In the words of the American historian Tomlinson, "can we see her [the lady] as anything other than the personification of pride and vanity?". The writer gives the series of cartoons a moralistic interpretation, directly relating them to the seven deadly sins.

The majority of specialists have noted in this work the influence of French painting, comparing it in particular with Vertumnus and Pomona by Jean Ranc (1710-1722, Musée Fabre, Montpellier).