Francisco de Goya

ightness and Daringness of Juanito Apiñani in the one in Madrid

Clasificación
ightness and Daringness of Juanito Apiñani in the one in Madrid
Datos Generales
Cronología
1814 - 1816
Dimensiones
245 x 353 mm
Técnica y soporte
Etching and aquatint
Reconocimiento de la autoría de Goya
Documented work
Ficha: realización/revisión
02 Oct 2021 / 22 Jun 2023
Inventario
-
Inscripciones

20 (print, upper right-hand corner)

Historia

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

The plate is kept at the National Chalcography  (nº 353).

Análisis artístico

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

This is one of the most important prints in the Bullfighting series, above all because it is one of the ones that best reflects the idea of movement. In fact, the moment when the Riojan bullfighter Juanito Apiñani flies over the bull hanging from a pole between the animal's horns in front of a half-full arena is undoubtedly one of the culminating and iconic scenes of Bullfighting.  It is also notable for its balanced composition, focusing on the main group formed by the bull and the bullfighter in the centre, and for the masterly transmission of the sensation of suffocating heat, which is achieved through very intense lighting using the white background of the paper, but also through visual devices such as crowding the spectators attending the bullfight on the left-hand side of the composition, This generates a very marked contrast, as one part of the print is visually very full and the other very empty, and conveys the idea that they are fleeing from the sun and the heat, an idea that is reinforced by the inclusion of two figures carrying sunshades to protect themselves from the sun.

The scene, due to its immediacy, seems to have been captured by a photographer, a fact that has been underlined by several authors, who have also pointed out that Goya was probably a privileged witness to the feat evoked. Luján comments that the fact of contrasting the right-hand side, without figures, with the left-hand side, which is crowded, makes the whole more suggestive and contributes to the movement of the picture. It is precisely this visual device of grouping the figures in the stands in a single area, all crowded together, that Goya would use again, although with very different dramatic overtones, in the next print in the series, Disgraces in the Madrid bullring and the death of the mayor of Torrejón, another of the most outstanding prints both for its subject matter and its composition.

Glendinning refers again, in the case of this engraving, to his theory of distorted faces, the use of which in his opinion would imply a criticism of those who participate, in one way or another, in a bullfight, as in other prints in the series such as Martincho's Fearlessness in the Zaragoza bullring, The Struggling Rendón Stinging a Bull Whose Luck Killed Him in the Madrid bullring or Flaming Flags.

Holo, on the other hand, highlights the masterly lighting effects created by Goya, which draw attention to the main action. Thus, the crowded arena is darkened while the empty part is illuminated, as is the bullring, where the main action takes place. Only the bull and the bullfighter jumping out of the ring are in slight shadow. Through this use of light, the author relates the print to another in the series, Pedro Romero killing a standing bull.

It is also worth mentioning that Martínez-Novillo, in relation to this engraving, which he considers masterly, praises Goya's capacity for classicism, composition of forms and balance.

There is a preparatory drawing of this print, also entitled Lightness and Daringness of Juanito Apiñani in the one in Madrid.

Exposiciones
  • Grabados y dibujos de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1946
    catalogue Elena Páez Ríos
  • Boston
    1974
  • 1975
  • Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional. Exposición de grabados y dibujos en el sesquicentenario de su muerte
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1978
    May - June 1978
  •  Grabados de Goya: colección propiedad de la Biblioteca Nacional, que se conserva en su Gabinete de
    Casa de la Amistad de Moscú
    Moscow
    1979
    exhibition displayed from January 18th to 31st 1979
  • 1984
  • Madrid
    1987
  • Madrid
    1990
  • Goya grabador
    Fundación Juan March
    Madrid
    1994
    consultant editors Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez and Julián Gállego, from January 14th to March 20th 1994
  • Goya grabador
    Museo del Grabado Español Contemporáneo
    Marbella
    1996
    from March 8th to May 5th 1996
  • Zaragoza
    1996
  • Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Biblioteca Nacional
    Madrid
    1996
    from September 19th to December 15th 1996
  • Schlaf der Vernunft. Original radierungen von Francisco de Goya
    Munich
    2000
  • Madrid
    2002
  • Madrid
    2002
  • Goya en tiempos de guerra
    Museo Nacional del Prado
    Madrid
    2008
    consultant editor Manuela B. Mena Marqués, from April 14th to July 13th 2008
  • Bilbao
    2012
  • Goya et la modernité
    Pinacothèque de Paris
    París
    2013
    from October 11st 2013 to March 16th 2014
  • Goya: Order and disorder
    Museum of Fine Arts
    Boston
    2014
  • Zaragoza
    2017
Bibliografía
  • LAFUENTE FERRARI, Enrique
    Bibliography']['number
    1946
    pp. 177-216, espec. p. 199
  • LUJÁN, Néstor
    Bibliography']['number
    BarcelonaTartessos-F. Oliver Branchfelt
    1946 (reed. 1951)
  • GLENDINNING, Nigel
    Bibliography']['number
    1961
    pp. 120-127
  • HARRIS, Tomás
    Bibliography']['number
    OxfordBruno Cassirer
    1964
    vol. II, 1964, p. 335, cat. 223
  • GASSIER, Pierre y WILSON, Juliet
    Vie et ouvre de Francisco de Goya
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísOffice du livre
    1970
    p. 278, cat. 1190
  • HOLO, Selma Reuben
    Bibliography']['number
    MilwakeeMilwaukee Art Museum
    1986
    pp. 19, 20, 24 y 32
  • GASSIER, Pierre
    Goya, toros y toreros
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMinisterio de Cultura, Comunidad de Madrid
    1990
    p. 103, cat. 35
  • MARTÍNEZ-NOVILLO, Álvaro
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridCaser-Turner
    1992
    p. 32
  • SANTIAGO, Elena M. (coordinadora)
    Catálogo de las estampas de Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMinisterio de Educación y Cultura, Biblioteca Nacional
    1996
    cat. 341
  • SANTIAGO PÁEZ, Elena y WILSON-BAREAU, Juliet (comisarias)
    Ydioma universal: Goya en la Biblioteca Nacional
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridBiblioteca Nacional, Sociedad Estatal Goya 96 y Lunwerg
    1996
    p. 255
  • MATILLA, José Manuel y MEDRANO, José Miguel
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado
    2001
    pp. 74-76
  • MATILLA, José Manuel
    Bibliography']['number
    MadridMuseo Nacional del Prado y Ediciones El Viso
    2008
    pp. 428-429, cat. 152
  • OROPESA, Marisa and RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wilfredo
    Bibliography']['number
    ParísPinacoteca de París
    2013
    p. 107
  • ILCHMAN, Frederick y STEPANEK, Stephanie L. (comisarios)
    Goya: Order & Disorder
    Bibliography']['number
    BostonMuseum of Fine Arts Boston Publications
    2014
    pp. 216-217
  • WILSON BAREAU, Juliet
    Goya. In the Norton Simon Museum
    Bibliography']['number
    PasadenaNorton Simon Museum
    2016
    pp. 186-201
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