El Cid Campeador lanceado otro toro (El Cid Campeador Spearing Another Bull)

In the 33-print series Tauromaquia, Goya traces the history of bullfighting in Spain, from men hunting in open fields to the modern, ritualized spectacle it became in the 18th century. He invents part of the sport’s history, depicting, for instance in El Cid Campeador lanceado otro toro (El Cid Campeador Spearing Another Bull), the famous medieval Castilian knight El Cid (Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar) slaying a bull on horseback. It is a technically sophisticated work in its combination of etching, drypoint, engraving, and the new medium of aquatint, which Goya deployed to luminous, evocative effect.