In the late 1700s, Francisco Goya took a job designing for Spain’s Royal Tapestry Factory.
Goya began this work in Madrid in 1775, after the court painter Anton Raphael Mengs helped bring him into the royal workshops. He produced large oil paintings called “cartoons”—from the Italian cartone—as full-scale designs for woven wall hangings intended for royal palaces.
Rather than depicting only grand historical scenes, Goya’s designs often showed hunting, village celebrations, games, dances, and everyday Spanish customs. Their lively figures and social detail helped establish his reputation at court. He eventually created about 60 tapestry cartoons, many of which are now preserved in Madrid’s Museo del Prado.
A common mix-up is calling the workplace a general textile or carpet factory. The specific institution was the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Bárbara, established to supply the Spanish monarchy. Goya later became a celebrated portraitist and court painter, but these early royal commissions were an important foundation for his career.