Saint Julian, Bishop of Cuenca / Young Nude Figure Study
Second half of the XVII century. White chalk, Black chalk on grey paper.Not on display
The drawing depicts the bishop seated facing frontally next to a table on which his episcopal mitre and crosier rest and weaving a basket made of reeds. In the background, to the left, a landscape of the city of Cuenca is visible, with the gorge, the bridge and the miraculous apparition of the Virgin to the saint.
It is a vibrant and lively copy of Eugenio Cajés’s renowned painting that is preserved in the Stirling-Maxwell Collection in Glasgow. Since we are dealing with a copy of another work, it is not easy to accept the attribution assigned to the drawing. However, it is a work by a Madrid-born painter from the second half of the century and his technique is not dissimilar to that typical of Escalante.
On the reverse, there is a young nude figure study (only the upper part, as the paper has been cut).
Museo Nacional del Prado, Catálogo de dibujos T. I. Dibujos españoles, siglos XV-XVII / por A. E. Pérez Sánchez, Madrid, Museo Nacional del Prado, 1972, p.43-44
