PABLO PICASSO (1881-1973)

Picasso was commissioned by Gustau Gili Roig in 1926 to create a series of ten etchings to illustrate José Delgado's Tauromaquia o el Arte de Torear a Caballo y a Pie. The artist completed six of etchings, including the present subject, before the project was interrupted and then abandoned due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936. Gustau Gili Roig's son, Gustau Gili Esteve, persuaded Picasso to revive the project three decades later, resulting in the portfolio of 26 aquatints published in 1959 (see lot 19).