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Eugenio Lucas Velázquez was the foremost practitioner of Goya's style in the middle years of the 19th century, as illustrated by the present painting on a favourite theme from Goya's universe: the world of bullfighting. Lucas inherited Goya's enthusiasm, reinterpreting diverse aspects of the sport in an absolutely personal language.
The present painting illustrates the tragic moment when a bull attacks the bullfighter, whose gored body lies by the animal's front legs. The scene takes place during a bullfight in the spacious square of a small village of poorly built, rundown houses next to a poplar grove, whose svelte outline is silhouetted against a clear sky crossed by clouds.
The painting, signed in Madrid in 1855, is from the most accomplished mature period in Eugenio Lucas's artistic career.
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