Plate 6 from "La Tauromaquia": The Moors make a different play in the ring calling the bull with their burnous

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

1816 · Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint · Drawings and Prints

A number of advances in Spanish bullfighting were thought to have been invented by Muslim settlers (known as Moors) in the Middle Ages, when this scene is set. It records a practice by which Moorish bullfighters called the bulls by using a burnoose (hooded cloak), a forerunner of the matador’s cape. Goya built this scene with great visual economy. Pace and tone emphasize the action and enliven otherwise uniform backgrounds. Even relatively simple compositions like this reveal Goya’s artistic intuition in brilliant details, such as the arrogant demeanor of the bullfighters or the bull’s tail, which resembles the burning fuse of a firework about to be propelled against its human opponents.

Artist

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

Date

1816

Medium

Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1921