Juanito Apiñani's lightness and daring in the one in Madrid (preparatory drawing)

See How the ancient Spaniards hunted bulls on horseback in the countryside.

Preparatory drawing of the print Juanito Apiñani's lightness and daring in the one in Madrid. In this preparatory study, Goya was able to masterfully capture that stiflingly hot afternoon in the Madrid bullring in which Juanito Apiñani performed a pole vault across a bull. In the drawing, the contrast between the bull, the intensity of the line, which matches the brute force of the animal charging against the pole, and the graceful lightness of the man suspended for a moment in the air, is striking.

There are elements that differ from the engraving, the main one being that the bullring still has spectators on all sides, whereas in the print they are all huddled to one side. The characteristic parasols present in the engraving are not yet visible either. Nonetheless, many of the features of the print, such as the very short shadows on the bright sand, are already present here.

It should be noted that the drawing is notable for the casualness of its strokes, which allow the movement to be intuited despite the speed of its execution. Like the print it is used as a starting point, the drawing resembles a photograph: it manages to capture the moment as if it were a snapshot.