When this drawing was shown in Madrid in 1980, Alfonso Pérez Sánchez proposed that it was a study for a Virgin or a saint in a larger composition in which she would be looking down at one or more figures. He was presumably thinking of a painting like Zurbarán's Madonna of the Carthusians in Poznan.[1] Pérez Sánchez also suggested she might be holding a book in her left hand, although this is not clear.
Although the softer lineaments of the face, compared with the other drawings in this group, and the apparently long hair or veil do indeed suggest that this was drawn from a female model, it is possible that the artist made the drawing from a male model and then drew in a feminine head. In fact, the model seems to be wearing the same combination of tunic and cloak that appears in nearly all the other drawings in the group. The Hamburg Kunsthalle manuscript card index of the drawings collection and the 1966 Spanish drawings catalogue describe the figure as a male saint.

Gabriele Finaldi


1. Delenda 2009, I, no. 127.

Details zu diesem Werk

• Beschriftung

  Beschriftung fremd: Auf dem Verso nummeriert: "73" (Bleistift, 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. 261, Abb., Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 187

  La colección de dibujos españoles en el Museo de Hamburgo, August Liebmann Mayer, 1920, S. 132-133, Abb.-Nr.

  Die Spanischen Handzeichnungen in der Hamburger Kunsthalle zu Hamburg, August Liebmann Mayer, 1918, S. 115, Abb.-Nr.

  Spanische Zeichnungen von El Greco bis Goya, Wolf Stubbe; Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1966, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 214

  Veláquez in Seville, David Davies, Enriqueta Harris; National Galleries of Scotland, 1996, S. 72-73, Abb. S. fig 7.6, Abb.-Nr.

  El dibujo español de los Siglos de Oro, Pérez Sánchez; Ministerio de Cultura, Dirección General del Patrimonio Artístico, Archivos y Museos, 1980, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 263

  A Corpus of Spanish Drawings, vol. III Seville School 1600 to 1650, Angulo Íñiguez and Pérez Sánchez; Herausgeber: Harvey Miller Publisher, 1985, Abb. S. pl. LXVII, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 234

  Spanische Kunst von Greco bis Goya, Hugo Kehrer, 1926, S. 219-221, Abb.-Nr.