Francisco de Goya

Bullfight: Suerte de Varas (Corrida. Suerte de varas)

Bullfight: Suerte de Varas (Corrida. Suerte de varas)
Datos Generales
Cronología
1824
Ubicación
The Paul J. Getty Museum, Los Angeles, United States
Dimensiones
50 x 61 cm
Técnica y soporte
Oil on canvas
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Titular
The J. Paul Getty Museum
Ficha: realización/revisión
03 May 2010 / 15 Jun 2023
Inventario
(93.PA.1)
Inscripciones

Pintado en Paris en Julio de 1824. / Por / D.n Fran.co Goya. / JMF ("Painted in Paris in July of 1824 / By / Mr Francisco de Goya / JMF". Located on the back of the canvas).

Historia

This work was painted during Goya's visit to Paris in July 1824. He stayed in the French capital for three months after leaving Madrid, before moving to Bordeaux. The inscription on the painting referring to his stay was written by Joaquín María Ferrer, as indicated by his initials. It would have been painted at around the same time as the portraits of Ferrer and his wife, Manuela Álvarez Coiñas de Ferrer, and it seems that he was the person who commissioned the work to Goya, with whom he had a friendly relationship.

The work was acquired from Ferrer for the collection of the Marquis of Baroja in Madrid some time before 1900. The painting was then passed by inheritance to the collection of the of the Marchioness of Gándara in Rome. On 9 December 1992 it was put up for auction at Sotheby's of London (lot no. 84), and was acquired by the Getty Museum.

Análisis artístico

Goya had addressed the theme of bullfighting on various occasions: in the "Caprice" The Bullfight housed in the San Fernando Academy, in the series of small paintings he produced during his convalescence in 1793, and in the series of prints called Bullfighting. In Bordeaux he would revisit to this subject, producing a set of paintings and the series of four lithographs Bulls of Bordeaux.

The scene captures the final moments of the stage of the bullfight known as the "suerte de varas". The background area of the composition is barely sketched in with light, watery brushstrokes which denote the walls of the bullring and the crowd of spectators. The execution of the figures in the foreground - bullfighters and picadores or mounted bullfighters - contrasts with the simple background, since these are depicted with thick, colourful brushstrokes. The group of bullfighters confronts the bull in a moment of great tension: Goya offsets the brutal activity of the men against the passivity of the animal, who is gazing off to one side. The horned beast is standing still, apparently with no intention of attacking anyone, while the picador, mounted on his badly injured horse, tries to provoke him, thrusting his lance at the bull. Another horse lies wounded on the floor, while further away, abandoned on the empty sand of the ring, we can make out the blurred outline of another. Goya has portrayed the animals in this painting as the real victims of the festival which so fascinated the painter.

Exposiciones
  • Goya 1900
    Ministerio de Instrucción Pública and Bellas Artes
    Madrid
    1900
    consultant editors Aureliano de Beruete, Alejandro Ferrant, Marqués de Pidal and Ricardo Velázquez. May 1900
  • Goya
    Prado National Museum
    Madrid
    1951
    July 1951
  • Goya: toros y toreros
    Espace Van Gogh
    Arles
    1990
    displayed also at Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando, Madrid, consultant editor Pierre Gassier.
  • Goya. El Capricho y la Invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturas
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1993
    from November 18th 1993 to February 15th 1994. Exhibited also at the Royal Academy of Arts, London, March 18th to June 12th 1994 and The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, July 16th to October 16th 1994, consultant editors Manuela B. Mena Marqués and Juliet Wilson-Bareau
  • Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    1996
    consultant editor Juan J. Luna. From March 29th to June 2nd 1996
  • Goya’s last Works
    The Frick Art Collection
    New York
    2006
    consultant editors Jonathan Brown and Susan Grace Galassi. From February 22nd to May 14th 2006
Bibliografía
  • DESPARMET FITZ - GERALD, Xavier
    L'œuvre peint de Goya. 4 vols
    Bibliography']['number
    París
    1928-1950
    vol. I, p. 295, cat. 274
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    pp. 356-357, 361, cat. 1672
  • GUDIOL RICART, José
    Bibliography']['number
    BarcelonaPolígrafa
    1970
    vol. I, p. 385, cat. 734
  • ANGELIS, Rita de
    L’opera pittorica completa di Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    MilanRizzoli
    1974
    p. 135, cat. 660
  • CAMÓN AZNAR, José
    Francisco de Goya, 4 vols.
    Bibliography']['number
    ZaragozaCaja de Ahorros de Zaragoza, Aragón y Rioja
    1980-1982
    vol. IV, p. 210
  • MENA, Manuela B. y WILSON-BAREAU, Juliet (comisarias)
    Goya. El capricho y la invención. Cuadros de gabinete, bocetos y miniaturas
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1993
    pp. 330, 381, cat. 112 y p. 331 (il.)
  • LUNA, Juan J. (Comisario)
    Goya. 250 Aniversario
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo del Prado
    1996
    p. 433, cat. 167 y p. 275 (il.)
  • BROWN, Jonathan y GALASSI, Susan Grace
    Goya's last works
    Bibliography']['number
    New YorkThe Frick Collection and Yale University Press
    2006
    p. 153, cat. 22 y p. 155 (il.)
Enlaces externos
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