Plate 10 from La Tauromaquia: Charles V Spearing a Bull in the Ring at Valladolid

This etching is from a series of thirty-three prints called La Tauromaquia, devoted to the art of the bullfight and published when Goya was seventy years old. Each image in the series portrays a moment in the sequence of ritualized movements in a bullfight. The artist conveys the drama enjoyed by the Spanish public but also the historical evolution of the practice, which began as indigenous sport and was transformed by the Moors during their occupation of Spain before it became a royal activity in which kings and nobles participated. Plate 10 imagines such a historical moment, as the Emperor Charles V (1500–1558) decisively gores a bull while mounted on horseback.