La Tauromaquia, the complete set of thirty-three prints by Goya celebrating the artist’s unique understanding of the art of bullfighting, will come up at Sotheby’s in London on April 4. This masterpiece of Spanish printmaking, recently discovered in a library in France, comes to sale from the collection of a French ducal family. The prints remained undisturbed for decades in a nineteenth-century ledger. Estimated at £300,000-500,000, the prints are virtually flawless examples of the first and only contemporary edition that was printed for Goya from large copperplates etched and aquatinted by him in 1815-1816.
They were brought from the court of Madrid around the time of their publication to the château de Montigny in France in 1831. They will headline Sotheby’s sale of Prints & Multiple.
Séverine Nackers, Head of Prints, Sotheby’s Europe, said: “To find a complete set of Goya’s bullfighting prints with such historically significant provenance is a once-in-a-lifetime discovery. With La Tauromaquia currently holding the auction record for a series of prints by Goya, we’re expecting an enthusiastic response from collectors.”
UPDATE: THE COMPLETE SET SOLD FOR £512,750
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes – La Tauromaquia
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes – La Tauromaquia
