Pedro Romero killing a standing bull (preparatory drawing)

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

Preparatory drawing for the print Pedro Romero killing a standing bull. We see Pedro Romero (1754-1839), the famous bullfighter of Goya's time, about to kill the bull, with the posture of the moment. The bullfighter and the bull are seen in profile. The light is concentrated on the right two-thirds of the scene, illuminating most of the visible part of the bullring and more than half of the barrier, which is slightly drawn.

Goya's use of light isolates the matador and the bull at the critical moment of killing the latter. Their postures are contrasting. The drawing is sober, as is the moment depicted, but it is faithful to what was seen in the bullrings of the time, as Pedro Romero's way of bullfighting was very austere.  

Although what is depicted in this preparatory study was transferred by Goya quite faithfully to the copper plate and therefore to the print, except for the audience behind the barrier, which was reduced and concentrated in the left half of it, authors such as Lafuente Ferrari consider the engraving to be much more successful.