Plate 20 from the ‘Tauromaquia’:The agility and audacity of Juanito Apiñani in [the ring] at Madrid.

Description

In The agility and audacity of Juanito Apiñani in [the ring] at Madrid, a bullfighter vaults over a bull with the aid of a pole, turning the animal’s movement into the occasion for a daring leap. Francisco Goya’s The Agility and Audacity of Juanito Apiñani makes the suspended body a striking counterpoint to the weight beneath it. The scene gathers its drama into a brief interval above danger.

Published in 1816 as plate 20 of La Tauromaquia, the etching and aquatint celebrate a named performer’s distinctive maneuver without making its risk disappear. The pole gives the action a clear structural line, while the bull supplies an unpredictable force. Goya makes the spectacle memorable through this meeting of mass and elevation. Its energy lies in the temporary escape from the ground, where skill becomes visible as a precisely timed movement through a space the animal still controls.

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