Hunter beside a Spring (Cazador al lado de una fuente)

The subject of hunters had already been represented by Goya in his first series of cartoons, Hunting Scenes, but the hunter we see here is quite different. This is a gentleman, dressed in yellow riding coat and three-cornered hat, still with his shotgun on his lap whilst he rests leaning against a spring. His face denotes intelligence and bears the expression of a person lost in thought.

The composition is simple, very similar to that of the companion piece, Shepherd Playing a Dulzaina, where we again find a reclining male figure, forming a diagonal line and holding a musical instrument.

Some writers have suggested, because of its dimensions and tonal range, that this work would have flanked, along with Shepherd Playing a Dulzaina, the tapestry of The Grape Harvest. Its connection to autumn could be justified by its use of ochre hues and by the fact that this season was the most popular one for hunting. Elsewhere, if we take into account the American writer Janis Tomlinson's interpretation of this series of tapestries, which ties them to the different ages of man, it makes sense that the overdoor pieces that flank the autumn tapestry depict adults, whilst those that accompany the spring one show children.