Lazarillo of Tormes (El lazarillo de Tormes)

This work had traditionally been identified by the title Diphtheria (La Curación del garrotillo), since this disease at the time was thought to be cured by cauterizing the throat. However, the mention of the 16th-century picaresque novel by an anonymous author in the inventory of Goya's possessions corrected this interpretation of the subject.

The painting depicts a dark, interior scene, lit by the flames of a fire, featuring a dishevelled man and half-naked boy with his clothes in tatters. The man, his eyes closed, grips the boy between his legs and supports his head firmly with his hand while he puts his fingers down the boy's throat. The boy expresses his pain and the discomfort of the situation in his eyes, gazing upwards. The image represents the scene in the novel in which the villainous blind man's guide has substituted the longaniza sausage which the blind man had given him to cook with for a turnip, and is being smelled by his cruel master to prove whether he has eaten it.

The characters are represented realistically, and their shabby clothing is depicted in great detail. However, the subject is also suited to the inclusion of a measure of comedy and irony, and accordingly the figures are somewhat caricatured. The setting for the scene does not require any details to make the action intelligible, and for this reason Goya has only included the fire and a line or two which suggest depth.