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Lot Essay
Following his experience of the horrors of the Peninsula war, Goya sought respite in the art of bullfighting, of which he had always been an aficionado, even having performed in the ring himself at the age of eighteen. The series marks a return for the seventy year-old artist to a subject in which he could express his love of life, passion and vitality.
With a newfound access to the materials which had been so scarce in wartime, La Tauromaquia became Goya's technical tour de force. Matching a vibrant subject matter to a controlled use of tone he sets each scene in a dramatically sunlit or chiaroscuro setting, subtly balancing movement and tension.
The first edition of La Tauromaquia was published in 1816 and was expertly printed in small numbers under Goya's supervision, probably by his friend Raphael Esteve. By the time the second edition was published forty years later, several of the plates had deteriorated through oxidation. The technical subtleties and delicacy of the aquatint can only be appreciated in the impressions from the first edition.
With a newfound access to the materials which had been so scarce in wartime, La Tauromaquia became Goya's technical tour de force. Matching a vibrant subject matter to a controlled use of tone he sets each scene in a dramatically sunlit or chiaroscuro setting, subtly balancing movement and tension.
The first edition of La Tauromaquia was published in 1816 and was expertly printed in small numbers under Goya's supervision, probably by his friend Raphael Esteve. By the time the second edition was published forty years later, several of the plates had deteriorated through oxidation. The technical subtleties and delicacy of the aquatint can only be appreciated in the impressions from the first edition.