'Barbarous Entertainment', a blind guitarist on the horns of a bull

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) Spanish

Not on view

Shortly after publishing the Caprichos in 1799, Goya made this independent print. It returns to the subject of the blind guitarist the artist had explored earlier an etching from around 1778 (see 22.63.29). The title Barbarous entertainment is taken from an inscription written by Goya on an impression of the print at the British Museum. It suggests his ambivalence toward the practice of bullfighting in Spain. The print might have been inspired by the comic bullfighter Ramón de la Rosa, whose antics were reported in a Madrid newspaper in 1797.

'Barbarous Entertainment', a blind guitarist on the horns of a bull, Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux), Etching, aquatint, drypoint on laid paper

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'Barbarous Entertainment', a blind guitarist on the horns of a bull, Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux), Etching, aquatint, drypoint on laid paper
'Barbarous Entertainment', a blind guitarist on the horns of a bull, Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes) (Spanish, Fuendetodos 1746–1828 Bordeaux), Etching, aquatint, drypoint on laid paper

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