Majo with Guitar (El majo de la guitarra)

See The Blind Guitarist.

This cartoon was delivered to the Royal Tapestry Factory on 24 January 1780, along with ten other cartoons, completing the decoration of the antechamber to the bedroom. These eleven tapestry cartoons - almost certain to have been made between 21 July 1779, when the artist delivered A Stickball Game and The Swing, and this delivery in January 1780 - were executed very rapidly. It is very likely that Goya was aware of the planned suspension of manufacturing work at the factory and was anxious to finish his commissions and receive his wages.

In 1870, the tapestry cartoons that had been stored in the basements of the Palacio de Oriente in Madrid were moved to the Prado Museum, known back then as the Royal Painting and Sculpture Museum. In was then that six cartoons by Goya were discovered to be missing; among them was this work (see Children with a Cart). Thanks to the painter Raimundo de Madrazo, in 1895 two of the cartoons, Majo with Guitar and Dogs and Hunting Gear, were donated back to the Prado Museum after being acquired in Paris.