Recklessness of Martincho (Bullfighting H) (preparatory drawing)

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

Preparatory drawing for the print Recklessness of Martincho (Bullfighting H)  a print that was not included in the official Bullfighting series, although three state proofs of it have been preserved, but not the plate.

The drawing is very similar to the surviving state proofs, as it was transferred with remarkable fidelity to the plate. Martincho, as in the state trials, is seated on a chair in the middle of the bullring, about to go in to kill the bull in front of him. He is holding a cape in his left hand and the rapier with which he is going to go in for the kill in his right. In the background, a number of characters can be glimpsed, sketched quickly and without any detail, greatly simplifying the composition, who will later be reduced in number and grouped together in the state of the bullfight.

In terms of lighting, the preparatory drawing is more similar to the two proofs of the third state, in which the aquatint is already included in the arena of the bullring, so that only the lower right-hand corner and part of the bull and the bullfighter are illuminated.