Allegory of Painting
Late XVII century. Pencil on laid paper.Not on display
A pedestal holds up a palette and paintbrushes as well as two paintings: an oval one of Hercules slaying the Hydra and an empty octagonal one. Above, two child angels appear holding trumpets. In front of the pedestal is a statuette of Diana, the bust of an old man, presumably Seneca, and a sculpture of a female head. There are two books: one opens to a page on geometry, and the spine of the other reads ‘Carduche cit’. Underneath, separated by a line and cut out, is a frieze of medallions. One of them bears a portrait of Michelangelo, and the other a portrait of a late-seventeenth-century painter who can possibly be identified as Claudio Coello. A third is barely visible.
The attribution to Conchillos is confirmed by another similar drawing that is signed and kept in the Museo de Bellas Artes in Valencia. It appears that Conchillos simultaneously made both drawings in black pencil (charcoal) and chalk with this thick feathering, reminiscent of Herrera the Elder.
Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., Catálogo de Dibujos. Vol. I. Dibujos españoles siglos XV-XVII, Madrid, Museo del Prado, 1972, p.87-88
