Head for the figure of Saint Mark
Ca. 1775. White chalk, Pencil on green paper.Not on display
This is a preparatory drawing for the head of the figure of Saint Mark intended for the cupola interior fresco Regina Santorum Omnium before the Holy Chapel and its enclosure in the Basilica of Our Lady of Pilar in Zaragoza. The Museo Diocesano de Zaragoza keeps the oil sketch for the fresco. The study depicts a bearded male head from the front and turned to the right in a foreshortened view from below. This drawing appears inaccurately published under number D001134 – which corresponds to a drawing by Donato Creti – in the catalogue for the exposition Francisco Bayeu 1734–1795 published in Zaragoza in 1996.
Arnáez, Rocío, Catálogo de Dibujos. II. Dibujos españoles siglo XVIII. A-B, Madrid, 1975, p.56