Francisco Herrera, d. Ä. ("El Viejo"), Umkreis
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.
Details about this work
Beschriftung fremd: Auf dem Verso nummeriert: "8[?]4" (Bleistift, unterstrichen)
[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).
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. 84
Die Spanischen Handzeichnungen in der Hamburger Kunsthalle zu Hamburg, August Liebmann Mayer, 1918, S. 117, Abb.-Nr.
Spanische Zeichnungen von El Greco bis Goya, Wolf Stubbe; Hamburger Kunsthalle, 1966, S. 6, Abb. S. 28, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 4
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. XXII, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 73
The Drawings of Antonio del Castillo y Saavedra, Priscilla E. Muller; Herausgeber: Institute of Fine Arts, New York, New York University. Ann Harbor, 1963, Abb. S. 54, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 68
Herrera el Mozo y el Barroco total, Herausgeber: Benito Navarrete Prieto, 2023, S. 134, Abb. S. 135, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 4