Dreadful events in the front rows of the ring at Madrid and the death of the mayor of Torrejón, Plate 21 of La Tauromaquia
About this artwork
This print records the panic at a bullfight which actually took place in Madrid on 15 June 1801. A bull escaped from the ring and jumped into the front row of the spectators’ stand, killing two members of the crowd. One of the fatalities was the mayor of Torrejón, shown here impaled on the bull’s horns and lifted into the air. Goya’s choice of composition was somewhat unusual; he placed all of the activity to the right, leaving the left half of the print almost blank. The terror of the crowd in flight contrasts with the stillness of the bull, which can no longer see as the body of the gorged victim is obscuring its vision. The success of the image relies on the uncomfortable realisation that in this instance, beast has dominated man.
Updated before 2020
-
artist:Francisco de Goya (1746 - 1828) Spanish
-
title:Dreadful events in the front rows of the ring at Madrid and the death of the mayor of Torrejón, Plate 21 of La Tauromaquia
-
date created:1816
-
materials:Etching, burnished aquatint, lavis, drypoint and burin on paper
-
measurements:Plate mark: 24.50 x 35.50 cm
-
object type:
-
credit line:Purchased 1980
-
accession number:P 2810.22
-
gallery:
Francisco de Goya
Francisco de Goya
Goya, born in Fuendetodos, Zaragoza, Spain, was an original and enigmatic artist, equally gifted as a painter and printmaker. His appointment in 1786 as painter to the Spanish King Charles IV followed a period in Madrid where he had moved from the north east of Spain. Goya's reputation was built on...