La Tauromaquia (Bullfighting). Plate B (rejected). Horse thrown by a bull.

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

Goya created Tauromaquia between 1815 and 1816, at the age of 69, during a break from his famous series The Disasters of War and the Caprichos. These served as visual criticism on subjects concerning war, superstition and contemporary Spanish society generally, including anticlerical scenes. Because of their sensitive subjects, few people had seen these works during Goya's lifetime. Bullfighting, however, was not politically sensitive until much later, and the series was published at the end of 1816 in an edition of 320 for sale individually or in sets. Goya mainly used the techniques of etching and aquatint in this series. The artist focuses, as here, on the violent scenes that take place in the bullring and the daring movements of the bullfighters. The events are not presented as they are viewed by a viewer in the stands, but in a more direct way, in contrast with late <em>The Bulls of Bordeaux </em>series (1825), where the events are presented as a means of popular entertainment.

This plate was never published by Goya, hence its subtitle of  'rejected'; the reverse was used to make plate 2 of the published series. It was finally published with the title 'La Taureaumachie...' by Eugene Loizelet, Paris, in 1876. This impression is believed to be the second state of the print. In it, a bull topples a horse, which bites the right forward leg of the bull in return. A rider is in turn crushed beneath the horse. Six or seven spectators are in close proximity behind this group and a further huddle of men, presumably bullfighters, stand in the upper right. The crowd can be seen in the upper left stands, but is obscured on the right.

See:

Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, http://www.mfa.org/collections/object/cheval-renvers%C3%A9-par-un-taureau-horse-thrown-by-a-bull-rejected-plate-b-for-the-series-tau romaquia-bullfighting-173062

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Tauromaquia

Dr Mark Stocker     Curator, Historical International Art         July 2017