Francisco de Goya

Clearing the Bullring (Despeje de la plaza)

Clearing the Bullring (Despeje de la plaza)
Datos Generales
Cronología
1793
Ubicación
Colección Masaveu, Oviedo, Spain
Dimensiones
42 x 31 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil on tin
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Undisputed work
Titular
Colección Masaveu
Ficha: realización/revisión
28 Apr 2010 / 14 Jun 2023
Otros títulos:
Alguacilillos
Historia

This work was painted during Goya's stay in Cádiz and was donated to the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, Madrid, in January 1794.

Análisis artístico

The scene is set inside a bullring, featuring two levels of boxes built over the top of the stands. According to Gassier, this is the bullring of Madrid, built nearby the Plaza de Alcalá during the reign of Ferdinand VI. Five of the eight paintings in this series are set in bullrings which are very similar in appearance to this one.

The clearing of the bullring took place before the bullfight and consisted in clearing the ring of all obstacles, leaving it ready for the fight. This task was carried out by the officials known as alguaciles, mounted on horseback. Also visible in this painting are a group of people leaving through the gates and two young men, standing apart from the others, in the foreground.

The crowd in the stands has been depicted using deft, light touches of the brush. Despite the tiny dimensions of the figures it is possible to make out with a certain amount of clarity the hats worn by the men and the white mantillas of the women.

For more information, see Bulls in the Meadow .

 

Exposiciones
  • Goya
    Musée Jacquemart-André
    París
    1961
    consultant editor Jean-Gabriel Domergue. From December 1961 to February 1962
  • Goya: toros y toreros
    Espace Van Gogh
    Arles
    1990
    displayed also at Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, consultant editor Pierre Gassier.
Bibliografía
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 169, cat. 320
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p. 278, cat. 273
  • ANGELIS, Rita de
    L’opera pittorica completa di Goya
    MilanRizzoli
    1974
    p. 106, cat. 272
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Goya, toros y toreros
    MadridMinisterio de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid
    1990
    pp. 58 y 59 (il.), cat. 5
  • SCHULZ, Andrew
    “Moors and the Bullfight: History and National Identity in Goya's Tauromaquia”
    Burlington magazine
    London
    2008
    p. 195
  • SUREDA PONS, Joan
    Los mundos de Goya (1746-1828)
    BarcelonaLunwerg
    2008
    p. 239
Enlaces externos
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