"The Parasol" was painted as a cartoon for a tapestry weaving for the winter residence of future King Charles IV, and his wife Maria Luisa. The finished tapestry was hung in the dining hall of the couples Prado Palace outside Madrid.

In 1777 Goya completed the first group of his memorable tapestry cartoons, among which is The parasol – brilliantly colored, ravishingly painted and yet, somehow, more than an innocent decoration. Simplicity itself, the picture shows a smiling, bright-eyed young girl seated on the ground with her skirt and cloak billowing about her. She holds a folded fan in one hand and supports a adorable black and white pup on her lap. With her is a sturdy young majo, attentive and obviosly ravished by her beauty, who shields her face from the bright sun with a brilliant green parasol. Suggestions of a stone wall to one side, a wind-whipped tree and leafy glade to the other, do nothing to distract from the two figures. Goya's people are amusing – the coquettish smile and directness of the girl as she gazes, it seems, into the very eyes of the viewer bring forth a smile from any man. Yet they are real in thaty the subjects of Goya's predecessors and competitors in this vein are not. There is, as a critic says, 'a positive pinch of earthy actuality' – and an avoidance of sentimentality – that is quite unique and that is to grow in importance as Goya works for the Royal Tapestry Manufactory."

From the book The World of Goya, by Richard Schickel, Time-Life Books, 1969, page 53