Francisco de Goya

A bullfighter falls from his horse underneath the bull.

Clasificación
A bullfighter falls from his horse underneath the bull.
Datos Generales
Cronología
1814 - 1816
Dimensiones
246 x 352 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta, punta seca y bruñidor
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Ficha: realización/revisión
01 Oct 2021 / 22 Jun 2023
Inventario
-
Otros títulos:


Inscripciones

26 (print, upper right-hand corner)

Historia

See How the ancient Spaniards hunted bulls on horseback in the countryside.

A state proof has been preserved before aquatinting.

The plate is kept at the National Chalcography (nº 359).

Análisis artístico

See How the ancient Spaniards hunted bulls on horseback in the countryside.

This print depicts a scene that frequently took place in the bullfights of the time: the bull charges at the picador, who falls from his horse and falls under the bull's legs, suffering its trampling. We can see how the bull has stuck its horns into the horse, disembowelling it in the middle of the bullring. The four peons are trying to move the bull from his place so that they can pull the picador out from under him. Behind the barrier, on the right, a small group of people can be seen, the rest of the seats being empty, a device used by Goya in other prints of Bullfighting (nos. 13, 20, 22 and 30). Among the audience is a figure who seems to be laughing at the moment he is witnessing.

The lighting of the scene is reminiscent of others in the series, such as Juanito Apiñani's Lightness and Daring in Madrid, as Goya manages to convey the sensation of suffocating heat in the afternoon, with the sun high in the sky, due to the great luminosity and the scant shadow cast on the floor of the square, and because some of the figures who appear there are wearing wide-brimmed hats to protect themselves from the sun.

For Lafuente Ferrari, this print is one of those that depict bullfighting incidents without historical accuracy, and he points out that there is another, rejected by Goya, that repeats the theme, Unfortunate charge of a powerful bull  (Bullfighting B). Luján, for his part, speaks of a central, harmonious composition and emphasises the fine line of the bull and the tense gestures of the bullfighters.

Martínez-Novillo includes this print among those depicting the suerte de varas and its incidents (Nos. 22, 26, 27, 28, 32 and B), a set not very popularly appreciated but which in his opinion constitutes the most personal, heartfelt and critical contribution to Bullfighting. For him, Goya's scenes stand out for their verism and harshness, both conceptually and plastically, which in his opinion brings him closer to anti-bullfighting literature. The sense of reality prevails over Goya's probable fondness for bullfighting.


This print will have its correlate in another by Picasso, who will be greatly influenced by this series.

There is a preparatory drawing of this engraving, also titled A bullfighter falls from his horse underneath the bull.

Exposiciones
  • Grabados y dibujos de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1946
    catalogue Elena Páez Ríos
  • Boston
    1974
  • 1975
  • Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional. Exposición de grabados y dibujos en el sesquicentenario de su muerte
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1978
    May - June 1978
  •  Grabados de Goya: colección propiedad de la Biblioteca Nacional, que se conserva en su Gabinete de
    Casa de la Amistad de Moscú
    Moscow
    1979
    exhibition displayed from January 18th to 31st 1979
  • 1984
  • Madrid
    1987
  • Madrid
    1990
  • Goya grabador
    Fundación Juan March
    Madrid
    1994
    consultant editors Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Julián Gállego, from January 14th to March 20th 1994
  • Goya grabador
    Museo del Grabado Español Contemporáneo
    Marbella
    1996
    from March 8th to May 5th 1996
  • Zaragoza
    1996
  • Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1996
    from September 19th to December 15th 1996
  • Schlaf der Vernunft. Original radierungen von Francisco de Goya
    Munich
    2000
  • Madrid
    2002
  • Madrid
    2002
  • Goya en tiempos de guerra
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2008
    consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marqués, from April 14th to July 13th 2008
  • Bilbao
    2012
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • Zaragoza
    2017
Bibliografía
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    1946
    pp. 177-216, espec. pp. 202-203
  • LUJÁN, Néstor
    BarcelonaTartessos-F. Oliver Branchfelt
    1946 (reed. 1951)
  • GLENDINNING, Nigel
    1961
    pp. 120-127
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    vol. II, 1964, p. 342, cat. 229
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 279, cat. 1202
  • HOLO, Selma Reuben
    MilwakeeMilwaukee Art Museum
    1986
    pp. 16, 26 y 32
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Goya, toros y toreros
    MadridMinisterio de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid
    1990
    p. 109, cat. 42
  • MARTÍNEZ-NOVILLO, Álvaro
    MadridCaser-Turner
    1992
    p. 35
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 351
  • SANTIAGO PÁEZ, Elena y WILSON-BAREAU, Juliet (comisarias)
    Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridBiblioteca Nacional, Sociedad Estatal Goya 96 y Lunwerg
    1996
    p. 253
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2001
    pp. 85-86
  • MATILLA, José Manuel
    Museo Nacional del Prado y Ediciones El Viso
    2008
    pp. 434-436, cat. 156
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 109
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 186-201
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