Women surprised by soldiers

See Women surprised by soldiers.

This drawing is very similar to another entitled Women Surprised by Soldiers in terms of its setting, although formally it is much more simplified than that one and is therefore probably a first sketch of it.

A group of four women, more clearly defined than in the other drawing, occupies the central and left-hand part of the composition, while through a door on the right-hand side emerges the menacing figure of a uniformed soldier behind whom the rest of his unit can be seen. In this case, the chiaroscuro is more pronounced between the shadows of the surroundings and the female figures, who are illuminated against the dark soldier. Goya has not yet included the visible architecture in the final drawing. The inconcrete nature of the details and the circumstances of the episode undoubtedly contribute to universalising the horror of the imminent outcome. In 1975, Gassier and Wilson discussed the possibility of a small panel painted after this drawing, but they did not confirm this.