Ferdinand the Bull
by M Spadecaller
Title
Ferdinand the Bull
Artist
M Spadecaller
Medium
Digital Art - Digital & Photographic Art
Description
“The Story of Ferdinand,”(1936) written by American author Munro Leaf is a story of a bull who would rather smell flowers than fight in bullfights. Young Ferdinand likes smelling flowers and not butting heads with the other young bulls. Worrying that he might be lonely, his mother coaxes him to play with the other calves, but when she sees that Ferdinand is content, she leaves him alone. One day, five men from the city come to the pasture to choose a bull for the fights. While Ferdinand is busy sniffing the fragrant flowers, he accidentally sits on a bumblebee and gets stung. Ferdinand snorts, bucks, and runs riotously across the field; this impresses the men.
Mistaking Ferdinand for a wild and aggressive bull, the men rename him "Ferdinand the Fierce" and take him away to Madrid. His debut as a ferocious bull goes awry. "The Banderilleros were mad, and the Picadors were madder, and the matador was so mad he cried because he couldn't show off with his cape and sword." Ferdinand was returned to the pasture, where he resumes sniffing the flowers in peace.
In 1938 the Story of Ferdinand outsold Gone with the Wind to become the number one best seller in the United States. Two months after the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War, the book was released. Supporters of dictator Francisco Franco denounced the book, where it remained banned until after Franco’s death. In Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler ordered the book burned; he branded it as, "degenerate democratic propaganda."
Although it was banned from several countries, it received praise from Thomas Mann, H. G. Wells, Gandhi, and Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt. Following the 1945 defeat of Germany, 30,000 copies were published and given out as gifts to the country's children.
This is a hand-painted digital image and photo composite created in Spadecaller's Florida Studio on 9/4/2020.
Uploaded
September 4th, 2020
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