Ignacio Sánchez Mejías

Ignacio Sánchez Mejías (6 June 1891, Seville – 13 August 1934, Madrid) was a famous Spanish bullfighter. He was also a writer. He enjoyed enormous popularity — he was attractive to women, admired by men, and a sympathetic personality to artists, especially those of the Generación del 27.

When he died after a goring (cornada) in the Plaza of Manzanares, he was memorialized by Miguel Hernández, Rafael Alberti and other famous poets, but probably the best of these works is Federico García Lorca's "Llanto por la muerte de Ignacio Sánchez Mejías" ("Weeping for the Death of Ignacio Sánchez Mejías"), for many the best Spanish elegy since the Coplas of Jorge Manrique.

Sánchez Mejías was born in 1891 in the Calle de la Palma, Seville. He was the son of a rich and stern doctor who insisted that he follow in his footsteps, but he never studied medicine. He received his high school diploma (bachillerato) by examination as an adult. Before, in the Escolapios (Catholic schools) he played truant in order to play at bullfighting with other children, among them José Gómez, years later called Joselito, the greatest bullfighter of all time and without a doubt the most important influence in the life of Ignacio Sánchez.

At the age of 17 he embarked with another youth as a stowaway on a ship for New York City. Detained at immigration, the police at first mistook them for anarchists, but Sánchez's brother Aurelio, who lived in Mexico, was able to secure their release. Sánchez took a job in Veracruz, but he could not forget having played at bullfighting in the sandy ground near the Torre del Oro in Seville; he made his debut in the ring as a banderillero in Morelia in 1910.

...
Wikipedia