The Water Bearer (Goya)

The Water Bearer is an oil-on-canvas painting by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, now in the Museum of Fine Arts in Budapest. The painting's Spanish title "La Aguadora" has also been translated as Young Woman with a Pitcher or the Water Carrier.

After a long period producing tapestry cartoons for the Royal Factory, where his works conformed to the court's rococo style, Goya started painting genre scenes. Works such as The Water Bearer, featuring working-class people, can be seen in the context of the Spanish resistance to French occupation in the War of Independence.

The art historian Juliet Wilson-Bareau has suggested that this work and its companion piece The Knifegrinder were painted to hang in the painter's house in Madrid. It was still in his possession in 1812.

It was acquired by Alois Wenzel von Kaunitz-Rietberg, who served as the Austrian ambassador to Spain 1815-17.