Head for Saint Barbara
1781. White chalk, Black chalk on green paper.Not on display
This drawing is traced in pencil and depicts its subject in three-quarter length and looking upwards.
This is a preparatory drawing for the corresponding figure on a cupola’s pendentive located in front of the chapel of Santiago del Pilar in Zaragoza, intended for the Marian devotion of Regina Virginum and painted in 1781. The Head for Saint Barbara (D000407) is meant for the cupola interior of the Regina Virginum in the Chapel of Santiago and, together with Female Head (D000482), they are both kept in the Museo Nacional del Prado. The Museum also keeps the following preparatory drawings for the pendentives of the cupola: Virginity (D000540), Innocence (D000542), Abstinence (D000538) and Modesty (D000544).
The Museo Diocesano in Zaragoza keeps the sketch of this drawing.
Arnáez, Rocío, Catálogo de Dibujos. II. Dibujos españoles siglo XVIII. A-B, Madrid, 1975, p.149
