| Young bulls race | |
|---|---|
| La Novillada | |
 | |
| Artist | Francisco de Goya |
| Year | 1780 [1] |
| Medium | Oil painting, tapestry cartoon |
| Movement | Rococo |
| Dimensions | 136 cm× 259 cm(54 in× 102 in) |
| Location | Museo del Prado, Madrid |
La novillada ("The Running of the Young Bulls"), [2] is a painting by Francisco de Goya, painted in 1780, when he was trying his hand at bullfighting (script period). It is part of the fourth series of tapestry cartoons for the Prince of Asturias' antechamber in the Pardo Palace.
Goya was an aficionado, and frequented the world of bullfighting, considered at the time to be "the refuge of scoundrels where ruffians and adventurers are at ease". [3] He describes La Novillada as a cape pass involving several young men, but does not name himself along them, even though he more or less portrayed himself. [4] He subsequently painted several portraits of bullfighters, the best-known of which is that of Pedro Romero. [5]
All the paintings in the fourth series were destined for the antechamber of the Prince of Asturias, the future Charles IV and his wife Marie Louise de Parme, in the Pardo palace. [6] The painting was delivered to the Royal Tapestry Factory on January 24, 1780 [7] and received by its director, Cornelio Vandergoten. A document dated October 2, 1777, whose provenance is unknown, states that the La Novillada tapestry was to hang on the south wall of the princes' antechamber next to another tapestry: El Resguardo de tabacos. [8]
It was considered lost until 1869, when the canvas was discovered in the basement of the Royal Palace in Madrid by Gregorio Cruzada Villaamil, and was returned to the Prado Museum in 1870 by the ordinances of January 19 and February 9, 1870, where it is exhibited in room 91. [7] The painting was first mentioned in the Museo del Prado catalog in 1876. [8]
The series was composed of El Ciego de la guitarra, El Columpio, Las Lavanderas, La Novillada, El Resguardo de tabacos, El Muchacho del pájaro et El Niño del árbol, Los Leñadores, El Majo de la guitarra, La Cita, El Médico, El Balancín and two lost pieces: El Perro [9] and La Fuente. [10]
The painting depicts a festival similar to Francisco Bayeu's Taureaux de Carabanchel. Historian José Camón Aznar sees a connection with Goya's childhood memories (when he tried his hand at bullfighting). [4] It is said that the bright colors drove the weavers at the Royal Factory mad, as they were commissioned to create tapestries based on Goya's sketch. [4]
The ensemble features a group of young people in colorful costumes, and in the main figure, who turns his head towards the viewers, a portrait of the artist himself has been seen. [11] This is also what Claude Pelletier says: "A witness to his time, Goya was probably an amateur bullfighter in his youth. Here, he has portrayed himself in a red costume, as the main character in this humble novillada. [12]
The bright colors are characteristic of Goya's "first period", as is the abundance of Majos who were, depending on the occasion, either commoners or noblemen dressed as such. Édouard Manet described them in one of his best-known paintings, Jeune Homme en costume de majo. The majos and majas were known for their sartorial pursuits inspired by popular customs. [13]
However, Cornelio Vandergoten, the director of the production, gives a different version of Goya's interpretation of the scene. According to him, the figures here are in a sorto position. [6]
The Swing and La Novillada could represent a passage written by Nicolás Fernández de Moratín, Leandro's father, in the clandestine poem Arte de las putas: [14]
"Flee the right-handed one so accursed custom
always give the hurgonazo in passing
to Cándido inciting, the great bullfighter
which, by the prompt, is clean his thrust "
- Nicolás Fernández de Moratín, Arte de las putas (II, 135-138)
"Run away from this good habit so cursed
always give a blow of the saddle in passing
inciting Candide, the great bullfighter
whose stockade is suddenly clean"
However, according to Jeannine Baticle, Goya didn't start frequenting the capital's Lumières until 1779, and it's likely that he only gained access to this poem - written in the early 1770s - through them, and therefore after the production of this carton. [15]
In addition to La Tauromaquia, Goya was greatly inspired by popular bullfighting games. There are several replicas of his Children Playing Bulls, including one in Madrid's Museo Lázaro Galdiano; The Picador, an oil on canvas (56 × 47 cm) in the Prado Museum, is thought to be a study for a larger painting for the Almeda de Osuna entitled Choice of Bulls.
After his illness, which left him deaf, Goya devoted himself almost exclusively to bullfighting during a stay in Andalusia in 1790. The result was a series of twelve small metal paintings entitled Scènes de divertissements nationaux, which he presented as a means of “occupying his mortified imagination”. [16] We usually refer to eight of these small paintings, which form a coherent whole twenty years before the Tauromachie gravée, as the Série Torrecilla, named after the marquis to whom this collection had belonged. [17]
There are countless works on the subject of bullfighting, and they are not always easy to locate. Many are in private collections, such as La Pose des banderilles (1793–1794, oil on tin, 43 × 31 cm).
Majo or maja, also manolo and manola, after the most popular names, were people from the lower classes of Spanish society, especially in Madrid, who distinguished themselves by their elaborate outfits and sense of style in dress and manners, as well as by their cheeky behavior. They flourished from the late 18th to early 19th century, and to some extent later. Majos and majas were one of the favorite subjects of some 19th-century Spanish painters.
Francisco Bayeu y Subías was a Spanish painter in the Neoclassic style, whose main subjects were religious and historical themes. He is best known for his frescoes. His brothers Ramón and Manuel were also well-known painters.
The Colossus, is known in Spanish as El Coloso and also El Gigante, El Pánico and La Tormenta. It is a painting traditionally attributed to Francisco de Goya that shows a giant in the centre of the canvas walking towards the left hand side of the picture. Mountains obscure his legs up to his thighs and clouds surround his body; the giant appears to be adopting an aggressive posture as he is holding one of his fists up at shoulder height. A dark valley containing a crowd of people and herds of cattle fleeing in all directions occupies the lower third of the painting.
The Parasol is one of a cartoon series of oil on linen paintings made by the painter Francisco Goya. This series of paintings was specifically made in order to be transformed into tapestries that would be hung on the walls of the Royal Palace of El Pardo in Madrid, Spain. The tapestries showed serene events in everyday life, which made them a nice addition to the dining room of Prince and Princess of Asturias—the future King Charles IV and Maria Luisa of Parma. The queen called on Goya because she wanted to decorate the dining room with cheerful scenes; The Parasol and the other tapestry paintings were Goya's response to this request. The painting is currently located in the Museo del Prado in Madrid as is another in the series, Blind man's bluff.
La Tauromaquia (Bullfighting) is a series of 33 prints created by the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya, which was published in 1816. The works of the series depict bullfighting scenes. There are also seven extra prints that were not published in the original edition.
Jean Laurent or, in Spanish, Juan Laurent Minier; sometimes simply J. Laurent was a French photographer who mostly worked in Spain.
Bullfight is an 1824 oil painting by Goya owned since 1992 by the J. Paul Getty Museum. When the museum bought the painting at auction in 1992, it shattered the artist's previous auction record. This piece shows Goya’s favorite form of entertainment: the controversial contest of bullfighting.
The Doña María de Aragón Altarpiece was an altarpiece painted between 1596 and 1599 by El Greco for the chapel of the Colegio de la Encarnación in Madrid. The college was secularised during Goya's lifetime and the altarpiece was dismantled. There has been much speculation over which paintings belonged to the work. The consensus view is that it consisted of six large canvases and a seventh, now lost. Five of those six canvases are now in the Prado and the sixth is in the National Museum of Art of Romania in Bucharest.
Summer or The Threshing Floor is the largest cartoon painted by Francisco de Goya as a tapestry design for Spain's Royal Tapestry Factory. Painted from 1786 to 1787, it was part of his fifth series, dedicated to traditional themes and intended for the heir to the Spanish throne and his wife. The tapestries were to hang in the couple's dining room at the Pardo Palace.
Assault of Thieves is an oil painting made by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya between 1793 and 1794. It is part of a private collection owned by Juan Abelló.
Children in a Chariot is a 1779 painting by Francisco de Goya. It is part of the third series of cartoons he produced for tapestries at the Royal Palace of El Pardo; the tapestry in question was to be positioned over a door. The painting is in the Toledo Museum of Art.
Leocadia Zorrilla, married name Leocadia Weiss, was the old-age companion of Spanish painter Francisco Goya, and mother of the artist Rosario Weiss Zorrilla.
Landscape with Skater is an oil on canvas painting by Flemish artist Joos de Momper. The painting is today considered a collaboration between the latter and Jan Brueghel the Elder. It was painted between 1615 and 1625. The painting is kept in the Museum of Prado in Madrid.
The Drunk Mason is an oil on canvas painted by Francisco de Goya, then reputed painter of tapestries for the royal palaces. It belonged to the fifth series undertaken by Goya, and, like all the pieces that compose it, was painted between 1786 and 1787.
The Victorious Hannibal Seeing Italy from the Alps for the First Time, or Hannibal the victor crossing the Alps, or Hannibal the victorious from the heights of the Alps looks out over the plains of Italy is an oil painting by Spanish painter Francisco Goya, dating from his early years. It is the oldest documented work by the painter.
Self-portrait at 69 years is an oil painting by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya. Two original versions of this work have been preserved. One of the paintings, painted on canvas, is housed in the collections of the Prado Museum. The other, created on wood panel, is located in the Real Academia de Bellas Artes de San Fernando in Madrid. Both paintings were created in 1815, in the post-war period, and depict a very similar image of the artist. This is one of the most sincere and direct self-portraits of the painter.
A Village Bullfight or A Village Corrida is an oil painting by the Spanish painter Francisco Goya.
The tapestry cartoons of Francisco de Goya are a group of oil on canvas paintings by Francisco de Goya between 1775 and 1792 as designs for the Royal Tapestry Factory of Santa Barbara near Madrid in Spain. Although they are not the only tapestry cartoons made at the Royal Factory, they are much the best known. Most of them represent bucolic, hunting, rural and popular themes. They strictly adhered to the tastes of King Charles III and the princes Charles of Bourbon and Maria Luisa of Parma, and were supervised by other artists of the factory such as Maella and the Bayeu family. Most are now in the Museo del Prado, having remained in the Spanish Royal collection, although there are some in art galleries in other countries.
The Swing is the title of a tapestry cartoon designed by Francisco de Goya for the bedroom of the Princes of Asturias in the Palace of El Pardo. It is kept in the Museo del Prado.
