Boy on a Ram

Boy on a Ram by Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes: As painter to the king of Spain, Francisco de Goya also designed tapestries for the royal residences. The a…

What to notice

The boy’s playful balance on the ram contrasts with the controlled, tapestry-ready arrangement; look for how diagonals in limbs and animal body animate the design.

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As painter to the king of Spain, Francisco de Goya also designed tapestries for the royal residences. The artist made small oil sketches to work out the designs, followed by full-scale painted cartoons that served as guides for the weavers at the king’s tapestry works. This cartoon was produced for a tapestry in a series decorating the dining room in the Palace of El Pardo outside Madrid. The room’s large panels illustrate a traditional decorative subject, the four seasons, but Goya exercised his imagination in th…