Francisco de Goya

Pedro Romero killing a standing bull

Clasificación
Pedro Romero killing a standing bull
Datos Generales
Cronología
1814 - 1816
Dimensiones
245 x 354 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta, punta seca y buril
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Ficha: realización/revisión
02 Oct 2021 / 22 Jun 2023
Inventario
-
Otros títulos:


Inscripciones

30 (print, upper right-hand corner)

Historia

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

The plate is kept at the National Chalcography (nº 363).

Análisis artístico

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

Scene devoted to Pedro Romero (1754-1839), one of the most admired bullfighters of Goya's time and his favourite. We see him on the left in the foreground, about to enter to kill the bull in front of him, which is logical, as the suerte de matar or suerte suprema was the one he mastered best and for which he was famous. Both the bullfighter and the bull are seen in profile, curiously illuminated between sun and shadow as they are positioned on the edge of the curved shadow cast by the unseen arena. In fact, one of the bullfighter's legs and the bull's hindquarter are powerfully illuminated because they are on this bullfighting frontier. In the background we see the barrier and some spectators behind it watching the bullfight covered with capes and hats to protect themselves from the sun.

Bagüés explains the suerte that the bullfighter is performing, a variant of the suerte de matar known as the suerte al volapié because the bullfighter entered very lightly to give the thrust. The position of the arm and the way of wielding the rapier reflect the imperfection of the technique, which had been invented a few years earlier by Costillares (1743-1800). In this connection, Lafuente Ferrari clarifies that the position of the bullfighter is not a mistake by Goya, but reflects the technical evolution of bullfighting, an opinion shared by Glendinning.

Lafuente Ferrari describes the print as sombre and at the same time luminous, clear, with a curved light that delimits the shadow in the sand and the framing of the bull and matador on the border between shadow and light. For Gassier, the sobriety of the print fits in with the sobriety of Pedro Romero's bullfighting, as this would be Goya's homage to his admired bullfighter. Martínez-Novillo, for his part, emphasises Goya's kind, affectionate and highly respectful treatment of Romero, depicting him at such a crucial and dignified moment as putting the bull to death. 


Because of the luck depicted, the work is thematically related to two other prints by Goya linked to bullfighting which depict the luck of the kill or supreme luck: A bullfighter entering to kill with a hat in his hand instead of a muleta (Bullfighting I) and A bullfighter plunges the rapier into the bull by the horn (Bullfighting L).


There is a preparatory drawing of the present print, also entitled Pedro Romero killing a standing bull.

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: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • Zaragoza
    2017
Bibliografía
  • ZaragozaTip. del Hospicio
    1926
    p. 36
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    1946
    pp. 177-216, espec. pp. 204-205
  • LUJÁN, Néstor
    BarcelonaTartessos-F. Oliver Branchfelt
    1946 (reed. 1951)
  • GLENDINNING, Nigel
    1961
    pp. 120-127
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    vol. II, 1964, p. 346, cat. 233
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 279, cat. 1210
  • HOLO, Selma Reuben
    MilwakeeMilwaukee Art Museum
    1986
    pp. 20, 26-27 y 32
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Goya, toros y toreros
    MadridMinisterio de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid
    1990
    p. 113, cat. 46
  • MARTÍNEZ-NOVILLO, Álvaro
    MadridCaser-Turner
    1992
    pp. 20-21, 24, 28 y 36
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 355
  • 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. 254
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2001
    pp. 91-93
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    p. 171
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 186-201
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