Ignacio Sánchez Mejías

Who was Ignacio Sánchez Mejías?

Ignacio Sánchez Mejías 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 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", for many the best Spanish elegy since the Coplas of Jorge Manrique.