Don Quixote Attacking the Barber to Capture the Basin

Francis Hayman (1708-1776) was an English artist, known for being one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768. Hayman played to the French Rococo style, and depicted literary scenes.

Hayman painted a series of pictures based on the story of Don Quixote, a Spanish novel from 1605 by Miguel de Cervantes.

In this scene Don Quixote attacks a man he has mistaken for a knight wearing a mythical helmet that he wants for himself. In reality the man is a barber wearing a basin on his head to protect him from the rain. Don Quixote attacks the man, causing him to fall from his mount, while the man in the background looks on horrified.