Seville: A Grand Line-up in Tribute to a Dynasty

The 2025 season at La Real Maestranza de Sevilla will conclude with a grand bullfighting festival, the proceeds of which will go to charity. At the same time, it will pay heartfelt tribute to one of the greatest bullfighting dynasties this city has produced over the centuries.

The charities of the Brotherhood of San Bernardo and the Brotherhood of El Amor will be the recipients of the proceeds from this event, which will highlight the legacy of the Vázquez dynasty — a glorious lineage from the San Bernardo district, rooted in three fundamental figures: Pepe Luis Vázquez Garcés, his brother Manolo Vázquez, and his son Pepe Luis Vázquez Silva.

A figure of the 1940s and 1950s, and both companion and rival of the legendary Manolete, Pepe Luis Vázquez Garcés was the fair-haired youth from San Bernardo who “fought like an angel”. His style, particularly with the verónica, was graceful and elegant, providing a counterpoint to the austerity of Manolete, the explosiveness of Arruza, or the mastery of Luis Miguel Dominguín, in an era when bullfighting saw a clash of many different schools and temperaments.

His brother Manolo Vázquez experienced a career of highs and lows. A promising start gave way to stagnation and retirement, until he returned in the early 1980s. Alongside maestro Antoñete, he restored a sense of classicism that bullfighting had been losing over time. His reappearance was a breath of fresh air, particularly for younger fans who had never seen him before and quickly connected with his elegant style.

The dynasty’s next chapter came with Pepe Luis Vázquez Silva, son of Pepe Luis and nephew of Manolo. Rising as a novillero in the early 1980s, he left moments of refined artistry in both La Maestranza and Las Ventas during his first years as a matador. An artistic torero, at times uneven but always with profound sensitivity, he delivered his last great performance in 2017 at the Feria del Corpus in Granada, in a one-off return to the ring.