Picador Caught by a Bull, from The Bulls of Bordeaux

Francisco Goya’s four lithographs that make up his series The Bulls of Bordeaux capture the spectacle of bullfighting in southern France, where Goya lived in self-imposed exile for the last four years of his life. Deaf and physically weak, Goya used the excuse of his ill health to leave Spain, fearing retaliation for his liberal political views. He chose the new medium of lithography for the series, a printmaking method which replicates the freely drawn line and thus allows the artist to capture the movement of the animals, crowd, and performers. Two of these works are titled in Spanish, suggesting Goya hoped to sell them to Spanish communities in France or in his home country.