Bulls vs Lions in 19th Cent Spain

[richsc]

I was at the Rousseau exhibit at the National Gallery today, and among the items that the curators feel influenced his work are pages from "Le Petite Journal", a 19th cent French tabloid. On two pages from different dates, there are pictures of a caged lion and a fighting bull having it out. One picture is set in Paris, apparently a special show, and the other is in an bull ring in Spain, with red/yellow/red banners fluttering. The latter is dated Aug 7, 1904. I have never heard of anything other than bulls in the Spanish rings, and yet here is a beast fight going on in the early 20th century. Sounds very Roman. Was this an anomoly or was beast fighting fairly common up until 1900 or so? If so, the traditions of the Roman arena were kept for far longer than I had thought.

[FAVENTIANVS]

I've never heard about that kinda fighting. Have any pic of that ilustration?

[richsc]

Unfortunately the museum did not allow photographs, which is why I wrote the date of the publication down. It may be that someone with access to a library with those publications could scan it.

[richsc]

A bit of imaginative googling turned up this paragraph, but no image to accompany it:

FAMOUS BULLS. Many Spaniards can tell you about the great bull Bailador, who fought on August 29, 1883. It took 21 deep thrusts of the rapier to kill him. In the meantime, Bailador had killed 13 horses. Another bull, Caramelo, defeated a lion and a tiger in the Madrid ring, and when he fought on August 3, 1877, his courage and strength so impressed the crowd that a roar went up to spare him. (In spite of what we said above, this does happen in rare cases.)

The Spanish bullfight

[Robert Vermaat]

NOT FOR THE SQEAMISH!!! Some 'Tarzan' movie, obviously staged, but I bet there was some injury to the animals....
http://www.gofish.com/player.gfp?gfid=30-1020112