Study of a raised arm

This is the only oil study related to what is considered the most ambitious painting performed by José de Madrazo during his sojourn in Italy: The Greeks and the Trojans Fighting over the Body of Patroclus. It was executed in 1812 to decorate one of the rooms in the Palazzo del Quirinale as part of the redecoration programme of its rooms to serve as a residence for Napoleon Bonaparte during his visit to the Eternal City.

This missing painting by José de Madrazo is known through watercolours and preparatory drawings – some of which are in the Museo del Prado – that he produced as preparatory studies before the painting. The Museum has an academy drawing (Male nude with his left arm outstretched and his right arm raised, holding a stick (D006583)) later used for the bearded military leader – visible in the background of this part of the battlefield – who exhorts his troops from a two-horsed cart. The figure’s stick would later become a spear in the modellino, in that case utilising a sturdy young model with defined muscles and curly hair who the scene later transforms into an older commander. Madrazo most certainly produced this study in oil for the same character, for which he would model the volume of this limb in a strong chiaroscuro, outlining the tense strength of the knuckles grasping the pole of the spear.

Díez García, José Luis, La disputa de griegos y troyanos por el cuerpo de Patroclo. Un lienzo de José de Madrazo para Napoleón a través de sus dibujos preparatorios. Boletín del Museo del Prado, Madrid, Museo del Prado, 2007, p.70-71