As good as it gets

In the centre of the scene a woman, holding a fan, is receiving the attentions of a man standing a little further back, who is courting her. Behind her, in the background, two women covered from head to foot in tunics appear to be engaged in conversation.

Goya has used strong, heavy inks in black, creating a dark atmosphere that suggests the possibility that this scene is taking place at night. The lightest areas of the print are the robes of the women in the background, as well as the face and generous cleavage of the young woman in the foreground.

The Ayala manuscript indicates that it is about María Luisa of Parma and Godoy, while the Prado Museum manuscript states the following: "It has often been argued whether men are worse than women, or the opposite. The vices of both come from bad education. Wherever men are perverse, women are also perverse. The young lady depicted in the print has as good a head as the greenhorn who is talking to her; and as for the old women, the one is as vile as the other". The manuscript in the National Library states: "The Queen and Godoy when he was a Guard, and they were mocked by the washerwomen. It represents a quotation that two procuresses have provided, and that they are laughing at, pretending to pray the rosary".

It is likely that this is not just a reference to Maria Luisa ofParma and Manuel Godoy, but rather a veiled allusion to prostitution. Perhaps the maja has shown up for a rendezvous arranged for her by the two old procuresses behind her, who murmur amusedly because, possibly, they know that the man has no money. In this sense, engraving no. 5, As good as it gets , is better understood thanks to the title of his preparatory drawing The Old Women Laugh Their Heads Off Because They Know He Doesn't Have a Quarter.

This courtship scene, in which a maja and a man talk standing up while being watched by two matchmakers, has certain analogies with Caprice No. 7, Nor so distinguishes her, and Caprice No. 27, Who else is surrendered?