Ridiculous Folly, from the 'Disparates' (Follies / Irrationalities)

Figures wrapped in cloaks and blankets sit on a tree branch, possibly at night, listening to a speech by an enigmatic figure wearing a striped mantle that conceals his face and body; only his hands are visible, emphasizing his oratorical gesture. The Spanish press often likened the nation to a tree (either thriving or diseased). Goya appears to have employed the same metaphor. The image recalls descriptions of a blight that turned olive trees black because of the "millions of insects" covering their branches and "sucking their nourishment." In the print, the tree is burdened not by parasites but by a vacant-looking audience whose passivity contributes to the country’s disease.

From the posthumous first edition published by the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid in 1864 under the title 'Los Proverbios'.