This drawing and the next one [Inv.-Nr. 38646] show the figure with a large cloak draped over his left shoulder and sleeve. Both sheets were clearly made in the same drawing session; the model has simply changed position and taken up an additional prop. Both figures have a strong sculptural quality with the form enclosed in a neat contour, although in both cases we can recognize the artist's distinctive tick of redrawing the outline several times before settling upon the one he finds most satisfactory. In these two sheets and the following two, the figure is shown in full-length rather than three-quarter length. Some rough and rapidly executed hatching at lower right constitutes the shadow thrown by the figure. This is absent in the companion piece.

Gabriele Finaldi

Details about this work

• Provenance

  [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).

• Bibliography

  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. 260, Abb., Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 185

  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. 212

  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. 269

  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. LXX, Abb.-Nr. , Kat.-Nr. 240

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