Here, Goya breaks with Baroque tradition, interpreting this typified subject according to the new principles of Neoclassicism. The clothing no longer flies around the figure, but instead adapts to the body in a natural manner.

This delightful and emotive work is a preparatory sketch for the canvas belonging to the main altarpiece of the church of the College of the Order of Calatrava in Salamanca. It was commissioned along with two other paintings by Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos in 1783. All of those works disappeared during the War of Independence (1808-1812). The only witness to that important set of paintings is the present sketch at the Prado Museum, which belonged to Jovellanos, himself.