Fuendetodos 1746-1828 Bordeaux

Pépé Illo haciendo el recorte al toro, (1st edition), 1816

Pépé Illo making the pass of the "recorte"

Etching, burnished aquatint, drypoint and burin on laid paper (Plate 29 of La Tauromaquia)

245 x 350 mm.; 9 3/4 x 14 inches

Reference:

Delteil 252

Harris 232

Notes:

1. A very fine impression on laid paper of the 1st edition from 1816.

2. José Delgado, called Pépé Illo, was famous in Spain at the time of Goya. Born in Andalusia around 1754, Delgado in 1796 published a book on bull-fighting in which virtuosity and the amusement of the public were declared to be more important than pure technique as represented by the philosophy of his chief competitor Pedro Romero. In this same book, Delgado described the particular movement seen in this etching:

The bull-fighter, with cape in hand, puts himself diectly in front of the bull. As the bull attacks, the bull-fighter moves directly towards the bull and forms a sort of half-circle in the center of which the bull-fighter keeps avoiding the bull...and the bull gradually wears himself out.

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