A Pass in the Bullring

The "feat" mentioned in the title actually takes place outside the painting, to the left, as indicated by the gestures and gazes of the characters. They struggle between curiosity, surprise, displeasure, and the anxiety of what is undoubtedly a fateful afternoon at the Maestranza.

Intrigued by what has occurred, we can only sense a dramatic event, as in the center of the image a horse runs without a rider through the arena...

...while another lies, probably dead, to the right.

The scene takes place in the Plaza de Toros de la Real Maestranza de Caballería in Seville, whose construction, although started in 1760, lasted for more than a century.

Even at the time Jiménez Aranda signed this work (1871), the stands remained unfinished, with their balconies incomplete—a project that the architect Juan Talavera eventually undertook in 1880–1881.

The true protagonists of the painting are the spectators in the foreground, occupying a box next to one of the main balconies of the bullring (whose fluted columns are partially visible on the right). Their gestures guide our gaze toward the "feat" that is hidden from us, but they primarily draw attention through their expressiveness and variety.

Shocked by the scene, the women react in diverse ways, but all with revulsion and pain: they cover their eyes, turn their faces away, stand up to leave, and even a fan dropped on the floor seems to indicate the hasty flight of its owner.

Only one woman looks on with curiosity, firmly gripping her fan with crossed hands in a gesture of supplication. The disordered, even overturned chairs reveal the spontaneous reaction of the occupants of the box, which is undoubtedly the main compositional and expressive success of the painting.

The work earned a third-class medal at the National Exhibition of Fine Arts held in Madrid in 1871.

The characters are dressed in 19th-century contemporary fashion, in more or less elegant styles that reveal their social status. We see suit jackets and frock coats, various hats and canes, and, among the women, shawls, mantillas, fans, and floral headdresses.

In 1880, Jiménez Aranda created a second version in which he replaced the clothing with the so-called "casacón" (big-coat) style. This type of painting, despite the anachronism of the clothes and setting, enjoyed enormous success in 19th-century Paris.

Among the barely detailed crowd, one can feel the uproar caused by the "feat" occurring in the ring. Standing with arms raised in an expression of astonishment or fright, leaning forward to try to get a closer look, or preparing to jump the barrier, the numerous spectators vividly convey the emotion of the scene.

Their faces remain blurred among the dabs of color of their folk clothing and several parasols.

The view of the cathedral made possible by the incomplete stands caught the attention of Romantic travelers, such as the writer Théophile Gautier or the painter David Roberts, who mentioned this privileged perspective in their writings or represented it in their works.

Jiménez Aranda seems to follow Gautier's words here: "This arrangement opens a marvelous perspective to the cathedral and forms one of the most beautiful pictures imaginable, especially when the tiers are packed with a dazzling crowd."