page_title: Bullfighter
section_title: Matador de toros
hierarchical_section_title: Bullfighter / Types / Matador de toros
caption_attribution_description: Early 20th century photograph of a matador.
context_page_description: A bullfighter is a performer in the art and physical contest of bullfighting. Torero or toureiro, both from Latin taurarius, are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the sport of bullfighting as practised in Spain, Portugal, Mexico, Peru, France, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and other countries influenced by Portuguese and Spanish culture. The main performer and leader of the entourage in a bullfight, and who finally kills the bull, is addressed as maestro, or with the formal title matador de toros. The other bullfighters in the entourage are called subalternos and their suits are embroidered in silver as opposed to the matador's gold. They include the picadores, rejoneadores, and banderilleros.
  Present since the sports earliest history, the number of women in bullfighting has steadily increased since the late-19 century, both on foot and on horseback. Usually, toreros start fighting younger bulls, and are called novilleros. Fighting of mature bulls commences only after a special match, called "the Alternative". At this same bullfight, the novillero is presented to the crowd as a matador de toros.
context_section_description: A matador de toros (lit. "killer of bulls", from Latin mactator, killer, slayer, from mactare, to slay) is considered to be both an artist and an athlete, possessing agility and coordination. One of the earliest matadors was Juan Belmonte (1892–1962), whose technique in the ring fundamentally change bullfighting and remains an established standard by which bullfighters are judged by aficionados. The style of the matador was regarded as being equally important as to whether or not he actually kills the bull. The more successful matadores were treated like rock stars, with comparable financial incomes, cult followings and accompanied by tabloid stories about their romantic conquests with women. 
  The danger associated with bullfighting added to the matador's performance; they are regularly injured by bulls and, concurrently, 533 professional bullfighters have been killed in the arena since 1700. Spanish bullfighter Manolete died from an injury in 1947. Matador Iván Fandiño died on 17 June 2017 in Aire-sur-l'Adour, France from a similar bullfighting injury. This hazard is said to be central to the nature and appeal of bullfighting.
  The American writer Ernest Hemingway was a bullfighting aficionado. In his 1926 fictional work, The Sun Also Rises, the main storyline features a matador and scenes of bullfighting, as do his short stories The Capital of the World and The Undefeated. Outside of fiction, he also wrote at length on the subject in Death in the Afternoon (1932) and The Dangerous Summer (1959).
  In 1962, Hollywood producer David Wolper produced The Story Of A Matador, documenting what it was like to be a matador. In this case, it was the late Matador Jaime Bravo.
caption: Early 20th-century photograph of a matador, showing traditional outfit in 1935.
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