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Plate 1 from "La Tauromaquia": The way in which the ancient Spaniards hunted bulls on horseback in the open country

1816
Not on view
This print belongs to the group of thirteen scenes surveying the history of Spanish bullfighting that opens Tauromaquia. Goya attempted to evoke its origins in this print, showing an early Spaniard dressed in animal skins on horseback, riding in a mountainous setting. The awkward way the figure holds the lance underscores the rudimentary beginnings of bullfighting; it was thought to have been introduced to Spain when the Iberian Peninsula was under the rule of the Romans or the Moors.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Plate 1 from "La Tauromaquia": The way in which the ancient Spaniards hunted bulls on horseback in the open country
  • Series/Portfolio: La Tauromaquia
  • Artist: Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)
  • Date: 1816
  • Medium: Etching, aquatint, drypoint
  • Dimensions: Plate: 9 3/4 x 13 3/4 in. (24.8 x 35 cm)
    Sheet: 12 x 17 3/16 in. (30.5 x 43.7 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1921
  • Object Number: 21.19.1
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

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Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga (1784–1792), Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish, Oil on canvas
Manuel Osorio Manrique de Zuñiga (1784–1792)
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
1787–88
Self-Portrait, Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish, Brush and point of brush, carbon black ink
Self-Portrait
Draftsman Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
Sitter Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
ca. 1796
Seated Giant, Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish, Burnished aquatint, scaper, roulette, lavis (along the top of the landscape and within the landscape)
Seated Giant
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
by 1818 (possibly 1814–18)
Condesa de Altamira and Her Daughter, María Agustina, Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish, Oil on canvas
Condesa de Altamira and Her Daughter, María Agustina
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)
1787–88
Woman Bathing (La Toilette), Mary Cassatt American, Drypoint and aquatint, printed in color from three plates; fourth state of four (Mathews & Shapiro)
Woman Bathing (La Toilette)
Mary Cassatt
Printer Jointly printed by the artist and Monsieur LeRoy
1890–91

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