Francisco de Goya

A gentleman in the bullring breaking a little bull with the help of a pimp (Bullfighting A)

Clasificación
A gentleman in the bullring breaking a little bull with the help of a pimp (Bullfighting A)
Datos Generales
Cronología
1814 - 1815
Dimensiones
252 x 350 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
-
Otros títulos:


Inscripciones
A (estampado, ángulo superior derecho)
Historia

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

This print, rejected by Goya and not included in the first edition of the Bullfighting of 1816 because of faults in the aquatint bite, was added and published for the first time, together with six others (A-G), in the third edition of the series, printed by Eugène Loizelet in Paris in 1876. It was retained in subsequent editions of the Bullfighting.

The plate is kept at the National Chalcography (nº 367), with How the ancient Spaniards hunted bulls on horseback in the countryside engraved on the obverse.

Análisis artístico

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

A very dark scene in which two elements stand out above all else: the black bull and the horse with the bullfighter are much more brightly lit, in white.

The place where the action is taking place is clearly distinguishable, as the bullrings with people and the barrier of the bullring are depicted, but without going into detail, in a sketchy manner. In the bullring, apart from the knight in the bullring on his mount who tries to thrust a rejón at the bull, there is a pimp with a cape who tries to provoke the bull so that the knight can thrust the rejón more easily. Behind him, there are more characters in capes who are watching the action, no doubt other pimp characters who are ready to help the bullfighter if necessary.

The present print is related to another engraving from the original series: A Spanish Gentleman in the Bullring breaking a small bull without the help of the pimps, in which a similar theme is depicted.

Beruete observed a large number of bubbles in the print, which may be due to the acid not having been moved properly during the bite. It is thought that this is why Goya discarded it and did not include it in the first edition of the Bullfighting. There are several authors who agree with Beruete, including Luján and Lafuente Ferrari. All of them consider that the seven prints identified by the letters A-G are those that Goya rejected while he was working.

Lafuente Ferrari, for himself, places this engraving among the scenes that present lances without historical accuracy and explains that "pimps" on foot used to appear in the bullfights to help the "mounted bullfighters".

There is a preparatory drawing for this print, also entitled A gentleman in the bullring breaking a little bull with the help of a pimp (Bullfighting A).

Conservación

(print, upper right-hand corner)

Exposiciones
  • Grabados y dibujos de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1946
    catalogue Elena Páez Ríos
  • 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
  • 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. 137
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    1946
    pp. 177-216, espec. pp. 185 y 210
  • LUJÁN, Néstor
    BarcelonaTartessos-F. Oliver Branchfelt
    1946 (reed. 1951)
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    vol. II, 1964, p. 351, cat. 237
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 280, cat. 1219
  • HOLO, Selma Reuben
    MilwakeeMilwaukee Art Museum
    1986
    p. 19
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Goya, toros y toreros
    MadridMinisterio de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid
    1990
    p. 117, cat. 50
  • MARTÍNEZ-NOVILLO, Álvaro
    MadridCaser-Turner
    1992
    pp. 21, 31 y 39
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 359
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2001
    pp. 99-100
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 186-201
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