La Tauromaquia

La Tauromaquia (Bullfighting) is a series of 33 prints created by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya, which was published in 1816.

Goya created Tauromaquia between 1815 and 1816, at the age of 69, during a break from his famous series The Disasters of War.

Bullfighting was not politically sensitive, and the series was published at the end of 1816 in an edition of 320—for sale individually or in sets—without incident.

[1] Goya was always charmed by bullfighting, a theme that obviously inspired him, since it was the subject of many of his works: in a self-portrait (c 1790–1795) he depicted himself in a bullfighter's suit; in 1793 he completed a series of eight paintings on tinplate, created for the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando, which depicted scenes from bulls' lives from the moment of their birth to the time they enter the bullring; in 1825 he made the series Los toros de Burdeos (The Bulls of Bordeaux; 1825), of which Delacroix purchased a copy.

The artist focuses on the violent scenes that take place in the bullring and the daring movements of the bullfighters.

Νο.18: The Daring of Martincho in the Ring at Zaragoza , etching and aquatint 24,5 × 35,5 cm. In this work from La Tauromaquia a famous bullfighter is depicted sitting on a chair and with feet shackled together while facing the attacking bull. Here, Goya ignores – partly – the laws of perspective , depicting the viewers in a rather unusual way in order to give more dynamism to the work.
Self-portrait , 1790–1795, oil on canvas, 42 × 28 cm. In this painting Goya depicts himself in a bullfighter's suit
Spanish entertainment , 1825, lithograph, 30 × 41 εκ., Madrid , National Library. In this work from The Bulls of Bordeaux series, Goya presents bullfighting as a way of popular entertainment, and not as a violent event, as he does in Tauromaquia .
Goya - La desgraciada muerte de Pepe Illo en la plaza de Madrid