About this artwork
Francisco de Goya was an enthusiastic bullfighting aficionado and even claimed to have been a torero (bullfighter) in his younger years. Yet it is unlikely that he meant this print series to be seen only as a fan’s outline of the history of bullfighting in Spain. In the early 19th century, when Goya published these prints, bullfighting was a politically charged activity. It was seen either as bread and circus (or pan y toros [bread and bulls], as a reformist tract put it), meant to keep the populace distracted, or as an expression of Spanish nationalism—a spectacle imbued with patriotic fervor.
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Status
- Currently Off View
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Department
- Prints and Drawings
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Artist
- Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes
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Title
- The daring of Martincho in the ring at Saragossa, plate 18 from The Art of Bullfighting
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Place
- Spain (Artist's nationality:)
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Date
- Made 1814–1816
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Medium
- Etching, burnished aquatint and drypoint on ivory laid paper
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Dimensions
- Image: 20.5 × 30.5 cm (8 1/8 × 12 1/16 in.); Plate: 24.9 × 35.5 cm (9 13/16 × 14 in.); Sheet: 32.1 × 44.5 cm (12 11/16 × 17 9/16 in.)
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Credit Line
- The Charles Deering Collection
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Reference Number
- 1927.3378.18
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IIIF Manifest
- https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/123726/manifest.json