Plate 14 from "La Tauromaquia": The very skillful student of Falces, wrapped in his cape, tricks the bull with the play of his body

Plate 14 from "La Tauromaquia": The very skillful student of Falces, wrapped in his cape, tricks the bull with the play of his body

Goya (Francisco de Goya y Lucientes)

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Goya depicts the legendary matador known as the Student of Falces (Bernardo Alcalde, born 1709) performing one of the death-defying feats that made him famous. One writer observed that he was astonishingly light and "dexterous beyond measure, especially in tricking the bulls . . . which he used to do as he spun in circles and without taking off his cloak." Goya illustrated the intensity of such a maneuver by setting both figures in an austere setting. A number of other details convey the impression of circular movement, including the swirling cape wrapping around the man’s leg and the lines that radiate from the matador’s torso.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Plate 14 from "La Tauromaquia": The very skillful student of Falces, wrapped in his cape, tricks the bull with the play of his bodyPlate 14 from "La Tauromaquia": The very skillful student of Falces, wrapped in his cape, tricks the bull with the play of his bodyPlate 14 from "La Tauromaquia": The very skillful student of Falces, wrapped in his cape, tricks the bull with the play of his bodyPlate 14 from "La Tauromaquia": The very skillful student of Falces, wrapped in his cape, tricks the bull with the play of his bodyPlate 14 from "La Tauromaquia": The very skillful student of Falces, wrapped in his cape, tricks the bull with the play of his body

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.