Francisco de Goya

The famous Fernando del Toro, barilarguero, forcing the wild beast with his club

Clasificación
The famous Fernando del Toro, barilarguero, forcing the wild beast with his club
Datos Generales
Cronología
1814 - 1816
Dimensiones
244 x 351 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta, punta seca, buril y bruñidor
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Ficha: realización/revisión
02 Oct 2021 / 22 Jun 2023
Inventario
-
Otros títulos:


Inscripciones

27 (print, upper right-hand corner)

Historia

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

Two state proofs are preserved, one before aquatinting and the other before inscribing the number.

The plate is kept at the National Chalcography (nº 360).

Análisis artístico

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

This scene depicts the encounter between a picador and his horse and the bull, who looks defiantly at them, while in the background of the composition other actions are taking place. Thus, in the background on the left, we see another picador on his horse and a couple of men in capes, while beside him on the ground lies another horse, wounded or dead. Behind the main picador is a man who seems to be holding a cape and, almost covered by the horse, another pair of men. They are three labourers assisting the picador. Further back, in the centre, the silhouettes of another two labourers are silhouetted against the barrier, but are very blurred, probably so as not to detract from the foreground, in which the heads of the bull and the horse of the main group stand out.

With regard to these blurred figures, several authors, including Beruete, point out the rarity of the fact that Goya left such apparently unfinished silhouettes. Beruete also points out that the horse ridden by the main picador is the only one in the entire series of the Bullfighting. Martínez-Novillo, for his part, interprets the two blurred silhouettes in the background as two figures that Goya may have wanted to erase but finally chose to leave there.

The main picador depicted in this print is none other than Fernando del Toro from Almonte, the most famous picador of the third quarter of the 18th century. He fought in Madrid in 1766 and the Court also requested him as picador in 1769, through the mediation of the Duke of Medina-Sidonia.

Holo discusses Goya's possible sources of inspiration for the work, the most likely in his opinion being popular prints. He places this engraving among those that speak of renowned bullfighters, narrate abuses of the animal and describe man's irrational behaviour in the light of the Enlightenment, so strongly advocated by Goya.

Due to its subject matter, the work is related to other prints in the series with famous picadors as protagonists, such as Courage manly of the famous Pajuelera in the Zaragoza bullring or The hard-working Rendón chopping a bull, whose luck died in the Madrid bullring.

There is a preparatory drawing of the present print, also titled The famous Fernando del Toro, barilarguero, forcing the wild beast with his club

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
  • Bilbao
    2012
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • Zaragoza
    2017
Bibliografía
  • BERUETE Y MORET, Aureliano
    MadridBlass S.A.
    1918
    p. 135
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    1946
    pp. 177-216, espec. p. 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. 343, cat. 230
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 279, cat. 1204
  • HOLO, Selma Reuben
    MilwakeeMilwaukee Art Museum
    1986
    pp. 26 y 32
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Goya, toros y toreros
    MadridMinisterio de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid
    1990
    p. 110, cat. 43
  • 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. 352
  • 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. 248
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2001
    pp. 86-88
  • 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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