Francisco de Goya

Mariano Ceballos mounted on a bull with a rejón (Bullfighting J) (preparatory drawing).

Clasificación
Mariano Ceballos mounted on a bull with a rejón (Bullfighting J) (preparatory drawing).
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1814 - 1816
Ubicación
The Prado National Museum. Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Dimensiones
192 x 318 mm
Técnica y soporte
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Titular
El Prado National Museum
Ficha: realización/revisión
03 Oct 2021 / 22 Jun 2023
Inventario
P00753
Inscripciones

(lower left corner)

242 [last digit partially covered by a fragment of paper stuck to it] (upper right-hand corner)

242 (reverse, lower part)

Historia

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

This preparatory drawing passed by inheritance in 1828 to Javier Goya, the painter's son, and in 1854 to Mariano Goya y Goicoechea, the artist's grandson. It was subsequently owned by Valentín Carderera (ca. 1861) and Mariano Carderera (1880). In 1886 it was acquired from Mariano Carderera, along with many other drawings by Goya, including almost all the preparatory studies for the Bullfight, by the Directorate General of Public Instruction, and was assigned to the Prado Museum, where it entered on 12 November 1886.

Análisis artístico

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

Preparatory drawing for the print Mariano Ceballos mounted on a bull with a rejón (Bullfighting J), a print which in the end was not included in the official Bullfighting series, although two state proofs of it have been preserved, but the plate has not.

In this preparatory study we see Mariano Ceballos performing his famous and reckless number on the back of a bull. In this case there are many secondary characters in action, giving the scene a somewhat chaotic appearance, which Goya later corrected on the plate, and thus in the print, by removing many of them. In any case, it is clear that the main group, which will be reproduced almost verbatim in the print, is the one on the right of the composition. It consists of Mariano Ceballos on the back of a bull facing another bull, which is depicted in profile. Behind this main group we find a large group of secondary figures, many of them sketchy, almost without detail, and the only one that can be distinguished among them is a subaltern who is holding a cape in his hands and seems to be attracting the attention of the white bull. In the left corner is a lightly sketched figure who seems to be in full movement as he moves away from the bull. In the background, the barrier, the bullring and the audience can be glimpsed in the background.

This preparatory study makes it possible to follow the evolution of Goya's approach from a very variegated composition in the drawing to a much more refined one in the plate, in which only the essentials are preserved.

Conservación

The paper still has creases from having passed through the press.

Exposiciones
  • Goya. Exposition de l’oeuvre gravé, de peintures, de tapisseries et de cent dix dessins du Musée du
    Bibliothèque nationale de France
    París
    1935
  • Goya. Gemälde Zeichnungen. Graphik. Tapisserien
    Kunsthalle Basel
    Basle
    1953
    from January 23th to April 12th 1953
Bibliografía
  • BERUETE Y MORET, Aureliano
    MadridBlass S.A.
    1918
    pp. 134-135 y 140
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    1941
    pp. 186 y 192
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    1946
    pp. 177-216, espec. p. 215
  • LUJÁN, Néstor
    BarcelonaTartessos-F. Oliver Branchfelt
    1946 (reed. 1951)
  • SÁNCHEZ CANTÓN. Francisco Javier
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1954
    n. 193
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    ParísLe Club Français du Livre
    1963
    p. 191
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    vol. II, 1964, p. 360, cat. 246
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 281, cat. 1238
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    Barcelona
    1974
    p.21
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Dibujos de Goya, 2 vols
    BarcelonaNoguer
    1975
    pp. 422-423, cat. 286
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    El mundo de Goya en sus dibujos
    MadridUrbión
    1979
    pp.210-211
  • HOLO, Selma Reuben
    MilwakeeMilwaukee Art Museum
    1986
    p. 19
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2001
    p. 109
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