Jose Gomez Ortega

Spanish matador, considered one of the greatest of all time. With Juan Belmonte he revolutionized the art of bullfighting in the second decade of the 20th century.

Ortega, commonly known as Joselito came from a family of bullfighters and was the youngest man ever to receive the title of matador (October 1912). He began his professional career at age 12 and celebrated his 16th birthday by killing six bulls. Joselito adopted Belmonte’s unorthodox style, in which the matador remains almost stationary during the bull’s charge, avoiding the animal’s horns by skillful manipulation of the cape. Together they became the heroes of the “Golden Age of bullfighting.”

Joselito was killed in the ringon 16 May 1920, at age 25 during a mano-a-mano (competitive bullfight) with his brother-in-law Ignacio Sánchez Mejías.