Apollo
1786. White chalk, Black chalk on grey paper.Not on display
This is a preparatory drawing for the main figure in the centre-left part of the fresco Apollo Protecting the Sciences and the Arts in the Library of the Royal Palace in Madrid. The figure is depicted in the act of flying with his arms stretched out: the right upwards, in which he is holding something – in the fresco, it is a laurel wreath – and the left, downwards. This is a study of a nude for which the cloth covering the central part of the figure is barely sketched.
Arnáez, Rocío, Catálogo de Dibujos II. Dibujos españoles siglo XVIII. A-B, Madrid, 1975, p.92