Francisco de Goya

The unfortunate death of Pepe Illo in Madrid's bullring

Clasificación
The unfortunate death of Pepe Illo in Madrid's bullring
Datos Generales
Cronología
1814 - 1816
Dimensiones
245 x 353 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

33 (print, upper right-hand corner)

Historia

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

Two state proofs of this print have been preserved: the first before applying the aquatint and the second before applying the additional aquatint on the perimeter frame.

The plate is kept at the National Chalcography (no. 366).

Análisis artístico

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

With this print Goya decided to bring to a close the Bullfighting series, which officially ended here during the artist's lifetime. It depicts the death of the famous bullfighter Pepe Illo (1754-1801), one of the most prominent bullfighters of the last quarter of the 18th century and the main rival of Pedro Romero (1754-1839), the bullfighter most admired by the artist. This death, which occurred on 11 May 1801 in the Madrid bullring, was very traumatic and went down in the history of bullfighting both for the importance of the bullfighter and for the fact that it was witnessed by many people and narrated by various writers, including Queen María Luisa, who witnessed the tragedy and recorded it in a letter. It is not known whether Goya attended the bullfight that day, but given the large number of surviving accounts of the tragic event, it must not have been difficult for him to depict it faithfully

In the picture we see the bullfighter lyingon the sand after having been previously wounded in the leg by the bull, which is on top of him, stabbing him in the stomach with one of its horns. At the same time, a member of his crew, using his cape, tries to pull the bull away from the bull in an attempt to save the master. In the background we see the barrier of the bullring and how two men are jumping into the ring to help in the situation. The shadow cast by the stands on the bullring helps to give an idea of where the action is taking place, as otherwise the space would not appear to be circular. Half of the scene is in shadow and the other half is illuminated.

 

On 11 May 1801, Pepe Illo (Pepe-Hillo), who had been bullfighting all day and who had suffered a minor mishap in the morning, continued to fight after lunch until this bull, the seventh of the afternoon, stuck his leg with a piton and threw him to the sand, where he fell face up and unconscious. Once he was there, the bull stuck one of his horns again, more viciously, in his stomach, a mortal wound from which he died in the infirmary twenty minutes later.

Goya engraved two other scenes capturing different moments of the bullfighter's fatal goring, which he eventually discarded and did not include in the official edition of Tauromaquia, although they were finally published in the enlarged edition that Loizelet produced in 1876: The Death of Pepe Illo (Bullfight E) and The Death of Pepe Illo (Bullfight F). In this connection, Sayre believes that Goya rejected plates E and F for the final composition, finally publishing only the present print, which is undoubtedly the simplest and most desolate of the three.

The almost dead body of the bullfighter in the present print inspired Manet in his famous etching Le torero mort (1864-1868).

It is also worth noting that Goya dedicated another print in Bullfighting to Pepe Illo, very different from the previous ones, as it focuses on his great skills as a bullfighter although it also alludes to his tendency towards recklessness: Pepe Illo trimming the bull.

There is a preparatory drawing of this engraving, also titled The unfortunate death of Pepe Illo in Madrid's bullring

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
  • Goya. Das Zeitalter der Revolucionen. Kunst um 1800 (1980 – 1981)
    Hamburger Kunsthalle
    Hamburg
    1980
  • 1984
  • Madrid
    1987
  • Goya: toros y toreros
    Espace Van Gogh
    Arles
    1990
    displayed also at Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, consultant editor Pierre Gassier.
  • 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
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    1946
    pp. 177-216, espec. pp. 207-210
  • LUJÁN, Néstor
    BarcelonaTartessos-F. Oliver Branchfelt
    1946 (reed. 1951)
  • GLENDINNING, Nigel
    1961
    pp. 120-127
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    vol. II, 1964, p. 349-350, cat. 236
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 280, cat. 1217
  • SAYRE, Eleanor
    The Changing image: Prints by Francisco Goya
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts
    1974
    pp. 244-247, cat. 196-199
  • HOFMANN, Werner (ed.)
    Goya, Das Zeitalter de Revolutionen. 1789-1830
    HamburgPrestel-Verlag Münche und Hamburger Kunsthalle
    1980
    p. 295
  • HOLO, Selma Reuben
    MilwakeeMilwaukee Art Museum
    1986
    pp. 16, 19, 26-27 y 32
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Goya, toros y toreros
    MadridMinisterio de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid
    1990
    p. 116
  • MARTÍNEZ-NOVILLO, Álvaro
    MadridCaser-Turner
    1992
    pp. 23 y 37
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 358
  • 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. 247
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2001
    pp. 97-99
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 110
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 186-201
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