Plate 14 from "La Tauromaquia": The very skillful student of Falces, wrapped in his cape, tricks the bull with the play of his body
Original title: Plate 14 from "La Tauromaquia": The very skillful student of Falces, wrapped in his cape, tricks the bull with the play of his body
kurzbeschreibung
A young female bullfighter dodges a charging bull with a deft twist of her body, her cape wrapped tight around her. Francisco de Goya etched this subject in 1816 using aquatint and drypoint as part of his series La Tauromaquia. The cycle comprises 33 prints and traces the history of Spanish bullfighting.
Description
Up front the fighter moves with a wide, reaching stance, the cape drawn close around her, while the bull lowers its head and charges, horns clearly visible. Behind the pair, figures emerge only indistinctly, likely spectators or other participants. The arrangement stretches broadly across the horizontal and keeps the contest of strength between human and animal at its heart. Greys and blacks come from the printmaking process, with light lying flat across the surface. Realistic description and sharpened movement merge into one another.
Context
The Tauromaquia was made between 1815 and 1816 and printed in Madrid in 1816. It carries the history of bullfighting from its beginnings up to Goya's own day. This scene draws on a tradition that a woman named Falces appeared as a bullfighter. Goya had followed bullfights himself in his younger years, and those impressions fed into the series.
Impact
The direct confrontation of human and animal creates immediate tension. Grace and menace exist side by side in the movement, and in that lies the pull of bullfighting. The sparse visual means direct the eye to the action alone.
Technique
The print was pulled on paper using a combination of etching, aquatint and drypoint. The finest tonal gradations come from aquatint, while bold, slightly raised lines come from drypoint. The plate measures 24.7 × 35.2 cm, the paper 30.4 × 43.7 cm.
AI-generated description text
Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)