Four Hands
1769. White chalk, Black chalk on yellow paper.Not on display
This is a study of hands: two of them are depicted interlaced, another with bent fingers holding a cane and the last showing its back. It is a preparatory drawing intended for the figures of the shepherds in The Nativity canvas in the Church of San Pascual in Aranjuez. This canvas was painted alongside its related episodes (Annunciation, Ascension and Pentecost) in 1769, all of which are no longer extant. Fernando Selma made engravings (G000317 and G001564) of the canvas in 1808.
Arnáez, Rocío, Catálogo de Dibujos II. Dibujos españoles siglo XVIII. A-B, Madrid, 1975, p.38
