Study of two men embracing for The Death of Viriatus

Madrazo’s drawings are conceived with a practical sense which subverts the ideas espoused by Anton Rafael Mengs and inculcated in Madrid painters; rather, they embrace the notions of expressive utility, synthesis and brevity that David urged on his students, especially when dealing with ancient statues. His anatomical studies often replicate or counteract poses adopted by the famous statues then kept in the collections and museums that he was able to study at first hand, whose influence can be traced in much of his work.