Unhappy mother! (Madre infeliz!)

Two men are shown carrying the body of a woman who may have fainted from hunger. Next to these figures a child cries inconsolably, covering her face with her hands. In the background we can see a body on the ground, perhaps the corpse of a victim of the famine.

Goya uses aquatint for the sky and part of the ground: it is difficult to tell where one ends and the other begins. The device creates an unreal, misty setting that heightens the drama of the scene. There are no spatial references in the work, although judging from the darkness it is likely that the scene takes place at night. The artist has placed three points of light in the middle of this darkness: one larger, light area in the centre of the composition comprising the men carrying the woman; another smaller one situated on the right, representing the small child crying, separated from her mother; and the last area of light in the background on the right, highlighting the abandoned corpse.