The Immaculate Conception / Sketches of angels
Ca. 1660. Pencil on laid paper.Not on display
Depicted while still a child, the Virgin is standing on the crescent of the moon with which three angels are playing. On either side, groups of child angels are depicted with the ladder and the throne, as well as the flag and mirror, symbols of the Marian litany.
It is a preparatory drawing for the canvas of the Santuario de la Fuensanta in Córdoba. P. Muller brought this discovery to light and dated the drawing to the 1660s. The drawing already shows the final composition.
On the reverse, some light sketches of angels rendered in fine pen are perceptible.
A copy of the main group that was the work of a pupil is preserved in the Uffizi.
Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., Catálogo de Dibujos. Vol. I. Dibujos españoles siglos XV-XVII, Madrid, Museo del Prado, 1972, p.75-76
