Village Bullfight

A bullfight is being held on an area of level ground outside the walls of a village beneath the imposing silhouette of the grandiose, monumental parish church with the appearance of a collegiate church that towers majestically above the scene on a small hillock.

The bullfight takes place in the centre of the ring, which is formed by wagons arranged in a circle. Watched by a bustling crowd, a picador is about to weaken the bull with his lance, while other bullfighters around him perform distracting manoeuvres. On the balcony of the building that stands out from the group of houses on the right is the presidential box in which the black-clad local authorities can be distinguished. Locals are grouped around the cross erected at the boundary stone on that side to gain a better view of the action. Meanwhile, visible in the foreground is the motley crowd of friars, country folk, ladies riding in open-topped caleches, stallholders, musicians and street vendors who take part in the festivities.

Here Villaamil puts his best skills to work in producing a monumental picturesque landscape, a genre of which he was the absolute master in Spanish painting of his day. He displays his inventive flair to the full in recreating the appearance of a non-existent village with an astonishing scenographic effect, overlooked by the impressive architecture of a church built from remnants of real architectural features that Villaamil would have sketched during his travels around Spain, later combining them in his studio with a curious eclecticism steeped in the most genuine Romantic spirit to give them a lifelike appearance.