SERIES: Pictorial History of the Sports and Pastimes of All Nations
SCENES: Guitar-playing, bull-fighting, dancing
SIZE: 3" x 5"
ARTIST: Not signed, but reportedly Frances Brundage
DATE: 1893
LITHOGRAPHER: Kaufman & Strauss
CONDITION: Good, I'd say. This card is only lightly soiled with slightly worn edges and corners. HOWEVER, there's a sharp vertical crease running from the bottom edge up to about the ribbons above the bullfighter's shoulder. There are also a couple very small indentations near the lower left corner. (Please see scans.)
MULTIPLE ITEM SHIPPING DISCOUNT: I will ship up to 4 cards for the single base shipping charge shown. For purchases of more than 4 cards, the shipping charge will increase by just a small increment for every 4 additional cards.
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REVERSE TEXT: SPAIN.
SPAIN, to most of our imaginations, is the home of romance and of the picturesque. The climate is warm and enervating. As a consequence its people are inclined to be languid and indolent, except when roused to action. Then the hot blood spurs them to fierce and warlike deeds.
The bull-fight is the national game. It is an ancient institution, and we are told it was indulged in even by the Greeks and Romans. Spain adopted it during her early history. One of the sixteenth century kings interdicted the sport, but when Joseph Bonaparte mounted the throne, he sanctioned it once more. Since then, in Madrid, the capital, an amphitheatre capable of holding 12,000 people and standing on a principal square, attests the favor with which bull-fighting is regarded. Especially fierce animals are purposely reared, to be killed in these combats. These are brought into the ring, goaded to madness, and finally despatched; sometimes not without dragging to death with them, one or more of their tormentors.
Dancing is a recreation as old as the world, yet of all peoples the Spanish are most addicted to it. The fandango displays the wonderful grace of this people to special advantage. The cachuca is considered the poetry of motion. The bolero is however the Spanish national dance. It is a stately measure, to the time of a minuet, and it is accompanied with the rattle of the castanets and the sweet notes of the cithera. Add to these the waving of scarfs and fans in the deft hands of Spanish beauty, and the charm is complete.
Guitar-playing is universal in Spain. This soft-toned six-string instrument in the hands of a devotee fairly speaks. It is used most generally in the serenade also.
