Plate 12 from the ‘Tauromaquia’: The crowd hamstrings the bull with lances, sickles, banderillas and other arms.

Description

In The crowd hamstrings the bull with lances, sickles, banderillas and other arms, an armed crowd surrounds a bull, with weapons entering the encounter from several directions. Francisco Goya’s scene shifts attention from an individual performer’s skill to the pressure of a collective assault. The animal’s position within the gathering makes the imbalance of numbers an essential part of the spectacle.

Published in 1816 as plate 12 of La Tauromaquia, the print’s title names lances, sickles, banderillas and other arms used to hamstring the bull. Etching and aquatint organize the crowded action through the converging bodies and implements. Goya makes the arena a space of competing movements rather than a stable ceremonial display. Its force comes from the density of the encounter, where the crowd’s energy gathers around an animal whose room to maneuver is progressively constrained.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Goya collection.