In 1918, August Mayer attributed this “uncommonly lively and boldly executed" drawing without question to Francisco de Herrera the Elder, and related it to the painting of Saint Basil at the Musée du Louvre, which is currently dated 1637.[1] Antonio Martínez Ripoll supported the attribution with special reference to its concept, character, and execution, and dated the sheet to the years 1638-40, thus matching the painting.[2] Diego Angulo Iñiguez and Alfonso Pérez Sánchez expressed reservations. In addition, they saw no parallels with assured drawings, though they ascribed the sheet to the circle of Herrera the Elder.[3]
Closer to the Hamburg sheet in its pose and volumes than the painting of Saint Basil is a painting of Saint Isidore by Domingo Martínez from the Capilla de la Antigua in the cathedral at Seville. The works differ in the object held by the seated man: the scroll in the drawing has been replaced by a book in the painting. The lines of the descending scroll in the drawing are taken over by the pluvial, and parallel lines predominate in both compositions.
The main lines of the composition were drawn in red chalk over a very superficial black-pencil preliminary drawing and then reinforced with more black pencil in the area of the face. Quite obviously in this study, the artist devoted his greatest attention to the precisely formulated right hand that guides the pen.

Jens Hoffmann-Samland


1 Mayer 1918, 110. Saint Basil Dictating His Rule, 95 11/16 X 76 4s in. (243 x 194 cm), Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. no. MI 206. Gerard Powell 2002, 174-78.
2 Martínez Ripoll 1978, 224.
3 Angulo Iñiguez and Pérez Sánchez 1985, 28.

Details zu diesem Werk

• Beschriftung

  Beschriftung fremd: Auf dem Verso in der Mitte bezeichnet und nummeriert: "? /47" (Bleistift; die Ziffern unterstrichen)

• Provenienz

  [José Atanasio Echeverría]; Julian Benjamin Williams, Seville (d. 1866); John Wetherell (?) (d. 1865); Horatio/Nathan Wetherell (?) (until 1874); Frederick William Cosens, London (from 1874 to 1890); Sotheby's, London, auction of the property of Frederick William Cosens (from November 11 to 21, 1890); Bernard Quaritch Ltd., London (from November 1890 to July 1891); acquired by the Hamburger Kunsthalle (July 14, 1891).

• Bibliographie

  The Spanish Gesture. Drawings from Murillo to Goya in the Hamburger Kunsthalle, Jens Hoffmann-Samland, with contributions by María Cruz de Carlos Varona, Gabriele Finaldi, José Manuel Matilla u. a., 2014, S. 215, Abb., Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 85

  Die Spanischen Handzeichnungen in der Hamburger Kunsthalle zu Hamburg, August Liebmann Mayer, 1918, S. 110-111, Abb. S. 2, Abb.-Nr.

  Francisco de Herrera el Viejo, Martínez Ripoll, 1978, S. D. 6, Abb. S. fig. 85, Abb.-Nr.

  A Corpus of Spanish Drawings, vol. III Seville School 1600 to 1650, Angulo Íñiguez and Pérez Sánchez; Herausgeber: Harvey Miller Publisher, 1985, S. 28, Abb. S. pl. XX, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 76