The modern bullfight and practiced in urban society has its origins in Spain during the 18th century (Romero, 1995, p. 149). Throughout the first quarter of this century, bullfights were not recognized as an entertainment for a very broad audience. The reason why this pastime had little appeal to Spanish people would be related to the context of the War of Succession in Spain (1701-1714) which affected society's mood, and the limited interest that Philip V (1683-1746) seemed to have for this practice. Along with the lack of interest from the king, there was also a lack of interest from his court environment. Between the death of Philip V in 1746 and the ascension of Charles III (1716-1788), although event organization changed, it is true that the bullfighting festival continued without having a broad audience. From the second half of the 18th century onwards, permanent bullrings began to be built in various Spanish cities including Madrid, Zaragoza, Cádiz, Seville and Aranjuez (Martínez-Novillo, 1992, p. 20).
Of the bullfights of this period there is an exceptional testimony in the Historical Letter on the Origin and Progress of Bullfighting Festivals in Spain (1776) by Nicolás Fernández de Moratín (1737-1780). Here, Moratín explains how to the capital of Spain came squadrons of Navarrese and Andalusians, among whom stood out Juan Romero, Pedro Romero and Joaquín Rodríguez (Martínez-Novillo, 1992, p. 20).
But this period was also the time of proliferation of Economic Societies of Friends of the Country, the rise of meetings of enlightened people and salons where the intellectual elite gathered to discuss the major issues that were taking place in Spain at the time, such as bullfighting (De Vargas, 1961, p. 138). At this moment, works related to tauromachy were also published. An example would be the case of the written work Bread and Bulls (Bread and Bulls: an apologetic oration in defense of Spain's flourishing state during the reign of Charles IV, delivered at Madrid's bullring by Don Gaspar M. de Jovellanos, 1812). It was a widely circulated composition, printed in 1796, attributed to Jovellanos, where bullfights were negatively criticized.
Just as in today's society, the bullfighting festival during the Enlightenment period was a controversial issue and prone to debate. Many Spanish intellectuals and foreign travelers participated in this debate. On one hand, opposition to bullfighting maintained that bullfights were "bloody, anti-economic for cattle breeding and agriculture, inappropriate for a civilized country and counterproductive for the enlightenment of the people" (Martínez-Novillo, 1992, p. 20). Among those thinkers who defended condemnation of the spectacle were Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos (1744-1811) and José de Vargas Ponce (1760-1821).
Of Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos on this aspect, his work titled Memorial for the Arrangement of Public Spectacles and Diversions and about their Origin in Spain, written in 1786, would be worth mentioning. This report influenced José de Vargas Ponce from Cádiz when he wrote in 1807 Dissertation on Bullfights (De Vargas, 1961). It is an anti-bullfighting piece where its author reflects the negative thinking he had against bullfights through a study that covers the activity from ancient times to the Enlightenment period, always from a western perspective, and from which it can be deduced that Cádiz, the "Silver Mug," had a great passion for bulls, something that Madrid also shared (De Vargas, 1961, p. XVI).
During his lifetime, Jovellanos was critical of this activity because he considered it to be an entertainment proper to barbarians and uncultured people who did not share his morality. These ideas were compiled, for example, in his Memorial for the Arrangement of Public Spectacles and Diversions and about their Origin in Spain (1796).
On the other hand, Nicolás Fernández de Moratín (1737-1780) was an example of a thinker with a favorable stance towards bullfighting. He participated in the enlightened panorama of Spain at the time as part of La Tertulia de la Fonda de San Sebastián or the Sociedad de Amigos del País de Madrid. His interest in bullfighting can be seen in his works, including poems such as Ode to Pedro Romero or To Pedro Romero, Insigne Torero, Bullfight Festival in Madrid or the prose piece titled Historical Letter on the Origin and Progress of Bullfighting Festivals in Spain (Martínez-Novillo, 1990, p. 30).
Beyond written sources, one can also review the production of plastic works from the time. In 1778 two portraits of Pedro Romero and Joaquín Rodríguez nicknamed Costillares were published within Juan de la Cruz's (1734-1790) Colección de trajes de España, as engravings. Subsequently, in 1785 the engraving by the Prussian ambassador to Madrid, David Alphonse de Sandoz-Rollin (1740-1809), titled This was the fifth horse that the bull knocked down and killed, would be framed. Also worth mentioning is Antonio Carnicero's (1748-1814) Colección de las principales suertes de una corrida de toros (ca. 1790), whose aim was to establish rules and codify the art of bullfighting (Martínez-Novillo, 1992, p. 20). Alongside Carnicero, other Spanish artists also painted bulls such as Luis Fernández Noseret (1793-1829), who created a series of engravings based on Antonio Carnicero's previous series.
But above the mentioned graphic production, it is essential to highlight Francisco de Goya (1746-1828), who throughout his life created numerous works on bulls and bullfighters, included in his series of tapestries such as Torrecilla, Tauromaquia or Bordeaux Bulls.
Conclusion
After bullfights had been banned during the reign of Charles III, although their ban was promoted by the Count of Aranda, they returned when José I Bonaparte assumed the Spanish throne and people once again flocked to the rings supposedly "to forget the calamities and hunger" (Martínez-Novillo, 1990, p. 31).
The final apogee of the first golden age of bullfighting took place in the last decade of the 18th century, whose end saw Costillares' death, leaving Pedro Romero and Pepe-Hillo as rivals on the rings. It was then that pro-bullfighting works such as Tauromaquia or Art of Bullfighting by José Delgado were published in 1796. At the beginning of the 19th century, much of the optimism about bullfighting felt in society at the end of the 18th century collapsed with Pedro Romero's retirement in 1799, Costillares' natural death in 1800, and Pepe-Hillo's fatal goring on May 11, 1801 in Madrid's bullring, an event witnessed by Queen Maria Luisa (Martínez-Novillo, 1992, p. 22-23).
Finally, the words of Spanish writer Wenceslao Ayguals de Izco (1801-1873) illustrate the situation at the time by stating that "the ladies smoke their paper cigars and we men are all bullfighters and matadors in brown capes, trabucos and Calaian hats" (Ayguals, 1845, p. 7).
Bibliography
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Ayguals, W. (1845). Maria, the daughter of a day laborer, vol. I. Imp. de Wenceslao Ayguals de Izco. https://www.cervantesvirtual.com/obra/maria-la-hija-de-un-jornalero/
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