The Straw Manikin  1791

Four young women laugh and play at blanket-tossing a doll or manikin in the air. The latter´s movement is the result of their caprice. Its carnival origins are visible in the use of masks and joking, but the blanket-tossing of a doll is used here by Goya as a clear allegory of women´s domination of men. The subject is frequent in the artist´s work, and examples can be foun...