Francisco Herrera, d. Ä. ("El Viejo"), Umkreis
Anonym (Sevilla, 17. Jh.), ehemals zugeschrieben
Der Erzengel Michael, um 1623
Priscilla Muller associated this drawing with the school of Juan de Valdés Leal, rejecting August Mayer's 1918 attribution to Antonio del Castillo. Diego Angulo Íñiguez and Alfonso Pérez Sánchez saw a connection to the title page of the Commentarii in Summam Theologiae S. Thomae (1623)[1] designed by Francisco de Herrera the Elder, on which the archangel Michael is pictured in a pose very similar to the one on the present sheet.[2] For that reason this attribution to his circle is maintained.
The drawing, which appears to have been swiftly executed with a relatively broad pen, only very loosely follows the underlying preliminary drawing in black crayon, seeking repeatedly a correct composition. One can see a repeat of the figure at the right edge-cut in half and without the wings. The bottom half of the same figure can be seen once again, turned ninety degrees, when the sheet is held against the light.
Jens Hoffmann-Samland
1 Diego Granado (S.I.), Commentarii in Summam Theologiae S. Thomae, Seville, Francisco de Lira, 1623.
2 See also Martínez Ripoll 1978, fig. 106.