Don Quixote sick

It depicts the convalescence of Don Quixote (chapter I of the Second Part). The moment when the priest and the barber, the two male characters sitting in the foreground, go to visit the gentleman who is in bed. After a long completely sane conversation, Don Quixote shows that he maintains his loyalty to his gallant delirium, much to his friends’ despair and his housekeeper’s and niece’s distress, both represented by the female characters in the background. The portrait that hangs over the bed is a version, slightly cut, from the one made by Lorenzo Casanova in 1864 (Prado Museum) to his friend Miguel Jadraque, artist of this canvas.