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Spanish Entertainment from the 'Bulls of Bordeaux'

1825
Not on view
Goya’s Bulls series reflects the profound transformation in bullfighting in the early nineteenth century. While his 1816 Tauromaquia synthesized the evolution of bullfighting from its origins until about 1800, this series was a tragicomic response to the spectacle’s decline in quality. The frequent staging of comic and amateur corridas in the same sessions as serious, professional bullfights compromised the gravity of Spain’s proud tradition. Made for French audiences, Spanish Entertainment hints at a Romantic identification of bullfighting with Spain. Yet, as the work of an artist living in semi-exile because of the political situation at home, it may also reflect his disillusionment with the masses, presented here as an irrational crowd.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Spanish Entertainment from the 'Bulls of Bordeaux'
  • Series/Portfolio: Bulls of Bordeaux
  • Artist: Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux)
  • Publisher: Cyprien Charles Marie Nicolas Gaulon (French, 1777–1858 Bordeaux)
  • Date: 1825
  • Medium: Lithograph
  • Dimensions: Image: 11 15/16 × 16 5/16 in. (30.3 × 41.5 cm)
    Sheet: 16 5/8 x 20 7/8 in. (42.2 x 53 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1920
  • Object Number: 20.60.3
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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
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)
Nocturne (Nocturne: The Thames at Battersea), James McNeill Whistler American, Lithotint with scraping on a prepared half-tint ground, printed in soft gray-black ink on pale blue laid chine mounted on ivory wove plate paper; second state of two (Chicago)
Nocturne (Nocturne: The Thames at Battersea)
James McNeill Whistler
1878
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
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

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