Francisco de Goya

Moorish palenque made with donkeys to defend themselves from the bull on a stake

Clasificación
Moorish palenque made with donkeys to defend themselves from the bull on a stake
Datos Generales
Cronología
1814 - 1816
Dimensiones
244 x 353 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta, punta seca, buril y bruñidor
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Ficha: realización/revisión
01 Oct 2021 / 22 Jun 2023
Inventario
-
Inscripciones

17 (print, upper right-hand corner)

Historia

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

A state proof of this print before aquatint and burnisher is preserved in the Dutuit Collection, Musée du Petit Palais, Paris (Dut. 5387).

The plate is kept in the Calcografía Nacional (no. 350) and has The Death of Pepe Illo (Bullfighting F) engraved on the reverse.

Análisis artístico

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

The scene is, as in the case of the previous print, very dark, with the bull in the centre of the picture, who carries a donkey between his horns and is surrounded by a group of bullfighters and donkeys. The light and shade emphasises the drama of the struggle between man and beast and adds nuance to the dramatic tension of the scene. The three figures on the left, no doubt Moors, are dressed as Mamluks and hold pikes with which they intend to wound the bull. On the other side of the composition, on the right, another Moor points his spear at the bull. But there are also three donkeys, one of which is almost at the back of the scene, as it has probably moved away from the bull or has been charged by the bull and is lying there. The scene can be set in a bullring, given that in the background of the scene we can see a hint of the barrier that surrounds the ring.

In this picture Goya depicts a rather cruel variety of the fiesta, consisting of placing a series of donkeys in front of the bullfighters so that they are protected from the bull's charge, which they attack with pointed spikes. This type of action, known as mojigangas, was a bullfighting custom in Goya's Madrid. However, José de Vargas Ponce, who was a contemporary of Goya's, notes that in Aragon there was the palenque, a type of bull running with a bull, to which ten or twelve young bullfighters are presented with sticks topped with iron spikes, who charge the animal as it comes out of the bullring and then kill it. Goya depicts something like this in this engraving, which because of its harshness can be related to others of bullfighting in which the bull is harassed with pikes or lances, such as How the ancient Spaniards hunted bulls on horseback in the countryside, Another way of hunting on foot or The Moors settled in Spain, disregarding the superstitions of their Alcoran, adopted this hunting and art, and they throw a bull in the field.

Martínez-Novillo believes that Goya depicted this print at the same time as Disembowelment of the rogue with spears, crescent moons,banderillas and other weapons, and as a transitional theme between the historical and contemporary scenes of Bullfighting. In fact, in both engravings, we find characters of the same type, those destined to disjarretar the bull cited by Nicolás F. de Moratín: Moorish slaves, then [...] blacks and mulattos. 

The print is part of the subgroup, within the group of "historical" scenes of Bullfighting (Nos. 1-11), dedicated to the bullfighting of the Moors (Nos. 3-8 and 17) , although Goya may have been inspired by bullfights held in Madrid during the time of Joseph Bonaparte in which Mamluk soldiers (Egyptian Muslims who formed part of the Napoleonic armies) took part.

There is a preparatory drawing for this print, also entitled Moorish palenque made with donkeys to defend themselves from the bull on a stake 

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
  • Zaragoza
    2017
Bibliografía
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    1946
    pp. 177-216, espec. pp. 197-198
  • LUJÁN, Néstor
    BarcelonaTartessos-F. Oliver Branchfelt
    1946 (reed. 1951)
  • GLENDINNING, Nigel
    1961
    pp. 120-127
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    vol. II, 1964, p. 332, cat. 220
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 278, cat. 1184
  • SAYRE, Eleanor
    The Changing image: Prints by Francisco Goya
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts
    1974
    p. 225, cat. 177
  • HOLO, Selma Reuben
    MilwakeeMilwaukee Art Museum
    1986
    pp. 24 y 32
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Goya, toros y toreros
    MadridMinisterio de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid
    1990
    p. 100, cat. 32
  • MARTÍNEZ-NOVILLO, Álvaro
    MadridCaser-Turner
    1992
    p. 31
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 338
  • 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. 246
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2001
    pp. 68-70
  • MATILLA, José Manuel
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado y Ediciones El Viso
    2008
    pp. 422-423, cat. 149
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 186-201
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