Plate 17 of the ‘Tauromaquia’: The Moors use donkeys as a barrier to defend themselves against the bull whose horns have been tipped with balls.

Description

Tauromaquia Plate 17 by Francisco Goya brings a dramatic encounter into focus. A bull tosses a donkey into the air as armed figures close in, turning the center of the scene into a whirl of legs, horns and cloth. The figures on either side frame the animal’s force, while the open background makes each gesture sharply legible. Light and dark passages move the eye between the startled group and the airborne form above them.

Francisco Goya created this work in 1816 for La Tauromaquia. The subject depicts Moorish participants using donkeys as a barrier against a bull whose horns have been capped with balls. Etching and aquatint give the extraordinary scene both fine detail and atmospheric depth, emphasizing the fragile boundary between spectacle and chaos.