Bust of Dulcinea

This is probably a preparatory drawing for the illustration of Gabriel de Sancha’s edition of Don Quixote (1797–8), on which Camarón worked. In the illustration, there is a print based on drawing D000639, to which it was attached. In the fourth volume of the edition, at the beginning of Part II of the book, there is an engraving with the bust of Dulcinea on a pedestal. The figure presents a strongly caricatured woman with little love cherubim around her. The print bears the inscription: ‘raf. Ximeno delineavit. P. Duflos sculpsit’. Camarón probably prepared this drawing, which was later dismissed, preferring that of Ximeno.

The pedestal reads: ‘Dulcinea del Toboso’. On the verso, there is the inscription: ‘Esta que bes de rostro amondongado/ alta de pechos y demán brioso/ es Dulcinea, reyna del Toboso/ de quien fue el gran Quijote aficionado/’ and ‘el buen suceso’.