Juan Belmonte

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Juan Belmonte y García (April 14, 1892-April 8, 1962) was an Andalusian bullfighter, considered by many the greatest matador of all time. He revolutionized the art of bullfighting.

Born in the Triana area of Seville, Belmonte began his bullfighting career in 1908, touring around Spain in a children's bullfighting group called Los Niños Sevillanos. He killed his first bull on July 24, 1910. As an adult, his technique was unlike that of previous matadors; he stood erect and nearly motionless, and always stayed within inches of the bull, unlike previous matadors, who stayed far from the animal to avoid the horns. As a result of this daring technique, Belmonte was frequently gored, sustaining many serious wounds.

Belmonte's rivalry with Joselito, or Gallito, another contender for the appellation "greatest matador of all time", from 1914 to 1920 is known as the Golden Age of Bullfighting. The era was tragically cut short when Joselito was fatally gored on May 16, 1920, at a corrida in Talavera de la Reina, a small town not far from Madrid. Belmonte then had to carry alone the weight of the whole bullfighting establishment, which was to prove too much and led to the first of his two temporary retirements.

In 1919, Belmonte fought 109 corridas, a number not matched by any matador before, until the 1965 bullfight season when Manuel Benítez Pérez ("El Cordobés") performed in 111 corridas, surpassing Belmonte's record. The Mexican matador Carlos Arruza fought 108 corridas in one season but it is said that he refused to pass Belmonte's record out of respect for the maestro.

After his retirement, Belmonte published an autobiography. Written with Manuel Chaves Nogales and published in 1937, it was called "Juan Belmonte, matador de toros: su vida y sus hazañas" and was translated into English by Leslie Charteris as "Juan Belmonte, Killer of Bulls". Belmonte was also close friends with author Ernest Hemingway, and he appears prominently in two of Hemingway's novels: "Death in the Afternoon" and "The Sun Also Rises." Like Hemingway, Belmonte ultimately committed suicide by gunshot.

A movie about his life, titled Belmonte[1] and directed by Juan Sebastián Bollaín, was released in 1995.

He is interred at the Cemetery of Seville. His wish was to be buried with the robe of his Holy Week fraternity, El Cachorro. His death provoked a strong sadness in the city of Seville.

[edit] Trivia

Bodega Belmonte, a café bar on Mateos Gago, Barrio Santa Cruz, Seville (close to La Giralda) is named after Belmonte. The café's business card shows a caricature of him. The interior decor has a number of items of memorabilia dedicated to him.