Plate 13 of "La Tauromaquia": A Spanish mounted knight in the ring breaking short spears without the help of assistants
Medium
Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint, burin
Dimensions
Plate: 9 3/4 in. × 14 in. (24.8 × 35.5 cm) Sheet: 12 x 16 15/16 in. (30.5 x 43 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Rogers Fund, 1921
Accession Number
21.19.13
Tags
Art Historical Context
In Francisco de Goya's *La Tauromaquia*, Plate 13 captures a thrilling moment of equestrian valor in the bullring: a Spanish mounted knight deftly breaking short spears, or *garrochas*, against charging bull without assistants. Created in 1816, this print exemplifies Goya's fascination with bullfighting (*tauromaquia*), Spain's national spectacle, blending heroism with raw danger. As a Romantic artist, Goya elevated the sport's historical roots, drawing from 18th-century traditions while critiquing its spectacle through dramatic compositions. Goya masterfully combined etching, burnished aquat...
About the Artist
Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) · 1746–1828
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (1746-1828) was a Spanish painter and printmaker considered the last of the Old Masters and the first of the moderns. Rising from modest provincial origins to become First Court Painter to Charles IV, Goya's career spanned the Enlightenment's optimism and the brutal Napoleonic invasion that shattered it. A mysterious illness in 1793 left him permanently deaf and ...