Forty-eight vignettes of bullfighting manoeuvers and scenes from the ring

Art Historical Context

This vibrant woodcut print, titledForty-eight Vignettes of Bullfighting Maneu and Scenes from the Ring captures the thrill of Spain's iconic bullfighting tradition around 1800–1850. Produced anonymously by the Casa Piferrer workshop—likely a Barcelona-based print shop—it features dozens of small, lively scenes depicting matadors, picadors, and banderilleros executing daring passes, charges, and kills in the ring. These vignettes offer a panoramic view of the spectacle, from the bull's entrance to the dramatic finale, reflecting bullfighting's rise as a national passion during Spain's Romantic era. The medium—a woodcut hand-colored with stencils—highlights affordable printmaking techniques popular in 19th-century Europe. Stenciling allowed for bold, uniform hues that brought the action to life, making such prints accessible souvenirs for enthusiasts. Measuring about 17 x 12 inches, this sheet served both as art and instruction manual, popularizing the "art of tauromachy" amid growing public fervor for corridas. Culturally, it underscores bullfighting's blend of bravery, ritual, and danger, symbolizing Spanish identity. Now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Drawings and Prints collection (Bequest of Phyllis Massar, 2011), it invites visitors to relive the intensity of the arena through intricate, colorful storytelling.

About the Artist

Anonymous|Casa Piferrer

In the vast tapestry of art history, "Anonymous" stands not as a singular individual but as a collective designation for countless unidentified creators whose works have endured across millennia. These artists, spanning prehistoric cave painters to medieval illuminators and folk craftsmen, produced the foundational layers of human visual culture. Prior to the Renaissance, when individual fame emer...