To a certain degree this sheet, with an apostle gazing toward the upper left and pointing downward with his right hand and with an open left hand, matches a painting of Saint Matthew.[1] The painting adopts the apostle's overall pose; both the painting and the drawing depict the same open left hand in the bottom right. Antonio Martínez Ripoll (1978) pointed out other similarities, including the saint's face, which resembles that of the Head of Saint Paul with His Throat Cut at the Museo Nacional del Prado (P 3058).
The Córdoba painting's rather free reliance on the drawing suggests that this series served as a repertoire of sacred figures that Francisco de Herrera the Elder resorted to on occasion but did not reproduce precisely. The fact that the series is designed to explore all possible positions of the head and arms while varying the direction of the subjects' gazes supports this assumption.

Jens Hoffmann-Samland


1. Saint Matthew, 44 78 x 35 in. (114 x 89 cm), Córdoba, Museo de Bellas Artes, inv. no. CE2337P. The similarity is visible despite the poor condition of the painting.

Details zu diesem Werk

• Beschriftung

  Beschriftung fremd: Auf dem Verso in der Mitte nummeriert: "61" (Bleistift)

• 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

  Tre siglos de dibujo sevillano, Alfonso Emilio Pérez Sánchez; Hospital de los Venerables, 1995, S. 132, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 47

  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. 50-51, Abb., 214, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 81

  Spanische Zeichnungen von El Greco bis Goya, Wolf Stubbe; Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1966, S. 139-a-k, Abb. S. fig. 14, Abb.-Nr.

  Spanish Baroque Drawings in the Sperling Bequest., Jonathan Brown, 1973, S. 377(fig. 34 for one of the works from this series at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; as Herrera the Younger), Abb.-Nr.

  Francisco de Herrera el Viejo, Martínez Ripoll, 1978, Abb. S. fig. 12, Abb.-Nr.

  El dibujo español de los Siglos de Oro, Pérez Sánchez; Ministerio de Cultura, Dirección General del Patrimonio Artístico, Archivos y Museos, 1980, S. 75, Abb. S. ill. XXXVI (Herrera the Elder and school), Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 141

  A Corpus of Spanish Drawings, vol. III Seville School 1600 to 1650, Angulo Íñiguez and Pérez Sánchez; Herausgeber: Harvey Miller Publisher, 1985, S. 19-21, Abb. S. pls. IV-VI, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 19

  Sobre Herrera el Viejo, Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez und Benito Navarrete Prieto; Herausgeber: Archivo Español de Arte 276, S. 365-87, Abb.-Nr.

  De Herrera a Velázquez. El primer naturalismo en Sevilla, Alfonso E. Pérez Sánchez und Benito Navarrete Prieto; Fundación Focus-Abengoa, Bilbao, Museo de Bellas Artes, 2005, S. 140, 144, nos. 7-10, Abb.-Nr.

  Recently Acquired Spanish Baroque Drawings at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Carmen Bambach, 1999, S. 409, Abb. S. fig. 2, Abb.-Nr.