Mary Cassatt (American, 1844–1926), After the Bullfight, 1873. Oil on canvas, 110.5 × 93.4 cm. Signed recto, bottom-left, in paint: "M.S.C. / Seville / 1873". Bequest of Mrs. Sterling Morton, 1969.332 © Art Institute of Chicago

Mary Cassatt chose a quintessentially Spanish subject, executing this composition of a bullfighter, or torero, in full regalia during an extended stay in Seville. Having trained in Philadelphia and Paris, Cassatt ventured to Spain to study the country’s Renaissance and Baroque works and to follow the path of French avant-garde artists like Édouard Manet. Depicting the performer at a relaxed moment, far removed from the spectacle and violence of the ring, Cassatt omitted narrative detail. Instead, with a modernist sensibility, she focused on the male figure in a casual pose, employing vigorous brushwork and rich pigment to describe the bullfighter’s costume and suggest his characteristic bravado.