Three Male Figures
1776. White chalk, Red chalk on brown paper.Not on display
This is a preparatory drawing for three male figures intended for the fresco of the Predication of Saint Eugene in the cloister of Toledo Cathedral, painted in 1776. Two preparatory sketches for the fresco are extant: one kept in Toledo Cathedral and the other in the Ena Collection in Zaragoza. The figures are depicted standing and wearing large cloaks. The figure to the left is depicted in profile and points his left hand upwards. The figure located in the centre is represented facing the front and with his head turned towards the left of the drawing. On the right, this work depicts a figure with a cloak over his head and with a lowered gaze. The study of the three figures is very thorough. The compositions of the Toledo cloister constitute the most important series of the artist’s mural paintings and demonstrate the influence on his training from González Velázquez, Corrado Giaquinto and Mengs, with some distant echoes of Luca Giordano.
Arnáez, Rocío, Catálogo de Dibujos II. Dibujos españoles siglo XVIII. A-B, Madrid, 1975, p.57
