Francisco de Goya

Pepe Illo making the trimming to the bull

Clasificación
Pepe Illo making the trimming to the bull
Datos Generales
Cronología
Ca. 1810 - 1815
Dimensiones
248 x 356 mm
Técnica y soporte
Aguafuerte, aguatinta, punta seca, buril y bruñidor
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Ficha: realización/revisión
03 Oct 2021 / 22 Jun 2023
Inventario
225
Otros títulos:


Inscripciones

29 (print, upper right-hand corner)

Historia

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

Three state proofs of this print have survived: the first before the additional aquatint and burin were applied; the second before the aquatint was burnished; and the third before the aquatint was fully burnished.

The plate is kept at the National Chalcography (nº 362).

Análisis artístico

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

This is the first of the four scenes of Bullfighting (Nos. 29 and 33) and their extensions (E and F) dedicated to another well-known bullfighter of the time, considered a real star in his lifetime, José Delgado Guerra, better known as Pepe Illo (Pepe-Hillo). Born in Seville in 1754, he was a disciple of the famous Costillares and one of the undisputed glories of bullfighting in Goya's time, having received his alternative in Malaga in 1774. His bullfighting was full of joy and sensuality, unlike that of his great rival, the famous Pedro Romero, Goya's favourite, who was much more reserved.

In this print we can see how the famous Sevillian bullfighter, after sticking a pair of sticks into the bull, separates from it and seems to be giving it a "remove" as a gesture of farewell with his hat in his hand, his head bowed and his body slightly bent, while the bull looks at him with a hard gesture, as if enraged. In a secondary shot we see a bullfighter on the right, together with a number of farmhands, ready to stick another pair of sticks into the bull. Further back, two bullfighters are seen retreating with their horses, the one on the left seriously injured, no doubt gored by one of the bulls, as his intestines are hanging out and he is dragging them along the ground. Such dramatic events, very surprising to today's eyes, were commonplace in Goya's time because the horses had no protection against goring, and it could almost be said that they were part of the spectacle that the public expected to see when they paid for their tickets.

Beruete considers that this is a blackened etching and that Goya may have worked hard but did not achieve the desired result. Nevertheless, the contrasting chiaroscuro effects are used effectively to highlight the central area of the composition.  Lafuente Ferrari, for his part, comments on the differences between the print and his preparatory drawing.

Martínez-Novillo emphasises the plasticity of the scene and points out that the picador's horse in the centre background is being gutted to death, which adds to the drama of the representation. Bagüés, for his part, focuses on commenting on the type of ornate bullfighting performed by the bullfighter, who belonged to the so-called Sevillian school, which Goya insisted on depicting despite his preference for Pedro Romero's way of bullfighting.However, the Aragonese painter depicted Pepe Illo performing an action, the defiant salute to the bull, which revealed his recklessness.


There is a preparatory drawing for the present print, also entitled Pepe Illo making the trimming to the 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
  • Schlaf der Vernunft. Original radierungen von Francisco de Goya
    Munich
    2000
  • Madrid
    2002
  • Madrid
    2002
  • Bilbao
    2012
  • Zaragoza
    2017
Bibliografía
  • BERUETE Y MORET, Aureliano
    MadridBlass S.A.
    1918
    p. 136
  • ZaragozaTip. del Hospicio
    1926
    pp. 35-36
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    1946
    pp. 177-216, espec. p. 204
  • LUJÁN, Néstor
    BarcelonaTartessos-F. Oliver Branchfelt
    1946 (reed. 1951)
  • GLENDINNING, Nigel
    1961
    pp. 120-127
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    vol. II, 1964, p. 345, cat. 232
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 279, cat. 1208
  • HOLO, Selma Reuben
    MilwakeeMilwaukee Art Museum
    1986
    pp. 26 y 32
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Goya, toros y toreros
    MadridMinisterio de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid
    1990
    p. 112, cat. 45
  • MARTÍNEZ-NOVILLO, Álvaro
    MadridCaser-Turner
    1992
    pp. 36-37
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 354
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2001
    pp. 90-91
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 186-201
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