Domingo Ortega

Domingo Ortega
Birth name	Domingo López Ortega
Born	February 25, 1906(1906-02-25)[1] Borox, Toledo, Spain[1]
Died	May 8, 1988(1988-05-08) (aged 82)[2] Madrid, Spain[2]
Nationality	Spanish

Domingo Ortega (born February 25, 1906 in Borox, Toledo, Spain^[1] — died May 8, 1988 in Madrid, Spain^[2]), was a Spanish matador.^[3]

Born Domingo López Ortega he was the son of a humble farmer and helped with the farm work. During the months when there was no work at the farm he would travel to other towns selling garlic.^[4]

Career

In the summer of 1928 he went to a "novillada" (a bullfight of young bulls) but the sole bullfighter was injured by the bull and no one knew what to do. Domingo Ortega jumped into the ring, asked for the tools, gave several passes and killed the bull. This incident opened a new career opportunity for Domingo Ortega. He had only performed in six novilladas when in 1931 he received the "alternativa" (graduation from novillero to full matador de toros) from Gitanillo de Triana in Barcelona. The same year he confirmed the "alternativa" from Nicanor Villalta in Madrid. In the following years he performed in a great number of bullfights until his first retirement in 1950. He reappeared briefly in 1953 and retired for good the same year.^{[4] [5]}

He is quoted as saying that to the three canonical maxims of bullfighting, "parar, templar y mandar", "to stop, to moderate, to command" a fourth should be added: "to load", meaning that the bullfighter should put his weight on the foot forward which puts him closer to the bull.

He said that a bullfighter caught by the bull is always due to a mistake on the part of the bullfighter. "In bullfighting either the bullfighter or the bull is in command^[5]

Critical Response

Most sources today give him high praise^[4] but Ernest Hemmingway in Death in the Afternoon says he was "skillfully built up (...) with an elaborate press campaign and ballyhoo" and "he was lousy".^[6]

Footnotes

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Conrad 1961, p.146
2. ^ ^{a b c} V. 1988, in El País
3. ^ Conrad 1961, p.173
4. ^ ^{a b c} Biography in Spanish. Accessed 2010-12-15.
5. ^ ^{a b} El País, article 1985-12-23 Accessed 2010-12-15.
6. ^ Death in the Afternoon, Chapter 14

Bibliography

• Conrad, Barnaby (1961). Barnaby Conrad's Encyclopedia of Bullfighting. Boston, Massachusetts: Houghton Mifflin. OCLC 33466783. 
• V., J. (1988), "Muere en Madrid el matador de toros Domingo Ortega", El País (Madrid, Spain: Jesús de Polanco), May 9th, 1988, http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/ORTEGA/_DOMINGO/Muere/Madrid/matador/toros/Domingo/Ortega/elpepicul/19880509elpepicul_9/Tes/, retrieved 2009-02-17 

External links

• Biography in Spanish. Accessed 2010-12-15.
• El País, article 1985-12-23. Accessed 2010-12-15.

Persondata
Name	Ortega, Domingo
Alternative names
Short description	Spanish Matador
Date of birth	February 25, 1906
Place of birth	Borox, Toledo, Spain
Date of death	May 8, 1988
Place of death	Madrid, Spain