- Cronología
- 1815
- Dimensiones
- 245 x 353 mm
- Técnica y soporte
- Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
- Documented work
- Ficha: realización/revisión
- 01 Oct 2021 / 22 Jun 2023
- Inventario
- -
- Otros títulos:
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31 (print, upper right-hand corner)
1815 / Goya (stamped, bottom right-hand corner)
See How the ancient Spaniards hunted bulls on horseback in the countryside
Two state proofs have been preserved, one before the aquatint was burnished and the other before the number was added.
The plate is kept at the National Chalcography (nº 364).
See How the ancient Spaniards hunted bulls on horseback in the countryside
A dark scene in which a pair of dots stand out in the centre of the composition and in which we see how the young men try to provoke the tame bull by means of a pair of banderillas de fuego. It is thematically related to two other prints of bullfighting and its extensions: They throw dogs at the bull and Dogs at the bull (Tauromaquia C), as both, the banderillas de fuego and the dogs, were methods used with bulls that were tame and therefore very difficult to fight. This was an uncommon practice and seems to have been very popular with the public, who thought that it was a punishment.
We see the bull in a foreshortened position on his back. A pair of smoking banderillas hang from its neck. The smoke is effectively recreated with burnished aquatint and gouache. In front of the bull we see a banderillero preparing to stick a new pair of banderillas into the bull while another companion urges him on with the cape. The rest of the cuadrilla and two picadors, who have finished their work but have remained in the ring as usual, wander around the arena in front of an audience that fills the stands but of which we can only see their silhouettes. The scene is somewhat chaotic, as bullfighting was in those days.
Beruete considers that an accident in the bite around the banderillas on the bull caused the existing stains, which Goya was able to conceal in a very skilful way, with drypoint and burnisher, giving them that smoky effect.
Lafuente Ferrari includes this print among those depicting lances without historical accuracy and points out the differences with respect to his preparatory drawing, also entitled Fire flags, centred above all on the number of figures depicted, which is smaller in the engraving.
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Grabados y dibujos de Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalBiblioteca NacionalMadrid1946catalogue Elena Páez Ríos
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Boston1974
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1975
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Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional. Exposición de grabados y dibujos en el sesquicentenario de su muerteBiblioteca NacionalMadrid1978May - June 1978
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Grabados de Goya: colección propiedad de la Biblioteca Nacional, que se conserva en su Gabinete deCasa de la Amistad de MoscúMoscow1979exhibition displayed from January 18th to 31st 1979
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1984
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Madrid1987
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Madrid1990
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Goya grabadorFundación Juan MarchMadrid1994consultant editors Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Julián Gállego, from January 14th to March 20th 1994
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Goya grabadorMuseo del Grabado Español ContemporáneoMarbella1996from March 8th to May 5th 1996
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Zaragoza1996
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Schlaf der Vernunft. Original radierungen von Francisco de GoyaMunich2000
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Madrid2002
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Madrid2002
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Bilbao2012
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Goya: Order and disorderMuseum of Fine ArtsBoston2014cat. 99
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Zaragoza2017
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MadridBlass S.A.1918pp. 136-137
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1946pp. 177-216, espec. pp. 185-206
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BarcelonaTartessos-F. Oliver Branchfelt1946 (reed. 1951)
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1961pp. 120-127
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OxfordBruno Cassirer1964vol. II, 1964, p. 347, cat. 234
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Vie et ouvre de Francisco de GoyaParísOffice du livre1970p. 279, cat. 1212
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The Changing image: Prints by Francisco GoyaBostonMuseum of Fine Arts1974p. 240, cat. 192
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MilwakeeMilwaukee Art Museum1986p. 27
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Goya, toros y torerosMadridMinisterio de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid1990p. 114, cat. 47
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MadridCaser-Turner1992p. 36
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Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca NacionalMadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional1996cat. 356
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MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado2001pp. 93-95
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Goya: Order & DisorderBostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications2014p. 171
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Goya. In the Norton Simon MuseumPasadenaNorton Simon Museum2016pp. 186-201