About this work
A fashionably dressed young woman sits on a grassy hillock, a small dog curled in her lap, while a standing youth holds a parasol aloft to shield her from the sun. She — a *petimetre*, or stylish coquette — meets the viewer's gaze directly, her expression flirtatious yet composed, dressed in a pale blue blouse and a vivid yellow skirt, fan in hand.
The painting declares itself through colour: the sharp contrast between the yellow skirt and the blue bodice, the bold green of the parasol answered by the green of the trees on the opposite side of the composition, and the delicate graduation of light across the woman's face as it filters through the silk above her.
The composition follows a pyramid-shaped arrangement drawn from the classical influences Goya absorbed from Mengs, with figures separated into two planes by a mound of earth — the maja in the foreground, the majo positioned just behind so that the rise of the ground conceals his legs, both of them framed by the open landscape beyond.
*The Parasol* was created as a full-scale cartoon for a tapestry, forming part of Goya's second series of designs (1776–1778) commissioned by Charles III for the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Bárbara.
The tapestries were destined for the dining room of the Prince and Princess of Asturias — the future Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma — who wanted the space hung with cheerful scenes of everyday life.
Goya was 31 at the time, still establishing himself as a master of genre scenes and reliant on court patronage.
Scholars have highlighted the work's innovative pyramidal composition and its mastery of light and shadow, cementing its status as the most successful painting in Goya's second tapestry series and a precursor to his later social observations.
The specific composition was Goya's own invention — and within it, one can already sense the acute social eye that would define his mature work: the woman is a coquette of pale skin and fashionable dress, distinct from the gypsy girls and orange-sellers elsewhere in the series, her gaze directed outward while her companion dutifully shields her.
As wall art, *The Parasol* rewards both sunlit rooms and spaces of cooler, quieter light — its palette shifts with the hour, the yellow skirt warming toward gold in afternoon sun, the blue bodice deepening in shadow. It belongs in a room that can hold a certain ease: a generous living space, a well-appointed dining room, a reading corner with good natural light.
