Design for the Altarpiece of the Virgin of Mercy (?)
XVIII century. Pencil, Grey-brown wash on laid paper.Not on display
This drawing depicts an altar raised on a step and encircled by an ornate balustrade. On either side of the altar are the seated female figures of Faith (holding a cross and chalice) and Charity (holding a pelican in her arms). The clothed and crowned Virgin holds the Christ Child and a sceptre in her arms. Below her, the altarpiece features a large relief depicting naked, chained, and supplicant figures as captives. It has been assumed that the drawing may have been a project for the altarpiece of the Virgin of Mercy in Barcelona.
It is excessively rococo in character. Despite the 18th-century tone of the altarpiece and its pitipié in Catalan, something in the drawing –the child angels, the allegorical figures, the frieze– links it to the Madrid tradition of 1650–1700, as if the artist was familiar with drawings by Herrera Barnuevo, Rizi, Coello and Palomino.
Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., Catálogo de Dibujos. Vol. III. Dibujos Españoles Siglo XVIII. C-Z, Madrid, Ministerio de Cultura, 1977, p.123
