Eucharistic Angel holding a Loaf of Bread
Ca. 1645. Red chalk on laid paper.Not on display
The child angel is depicted on foot, facing forwards and nude. He holds the bread upright with his right hand and supports it with his left.
A copy of lesser quality is held in the museum of Córdoba. Priscilla Muller, who was only familiar with two of the four originals in the Prado, assumed that they were drawings executed for metalsmiths, needle-worked to be transferred to the metal plate. This interpretation may be challenged by the hint of colour suffusing this drawing. Instead, it suggests that it is a drawing for embroidery of shaded silks, as in the abundant series in El Escorial, all traced in the same way to transfer the drawing to fabric. The eucharistic intention of the series seems clear, as Muller assumed. The date she proposes, around 1630 or 1640, could possibly be pushed back a little, to bring it closer to his more mature works.
Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., Catálogo de Dibujos. Vol. I. Dibujos españoles siglos XV-XVII, Madrid, Museo del Prado, 1972, p.77
