Woman with a Child
1779. White chalk, Black chalk on blue paper.Not on display
This is a preparatory drawing for two figures, a woman with a child, intended for the lower-right part of the fresco The Transfer of the Remains of Saint Eugene in the cloister of Toledo Cathedral. Three preparatory sketches for the fresco are extant: one in Toledo Cathedral, another in the Ena Collection in Zaragoza and the third in a private collection in Madrid. The Museo del Prado has several related drawings.
The figure of the woman is depicted in left profile. She has one knee on the ground on which the child rests while turning his back. The study of the clothing is very thorough, whilst the heads of the two figures and the body of the child are barely sketched. Both the fresco and the sketch in Toledo Cathedral show the similarities with this drawing. These two figures are in an act of reverence, observing the procession.
Arnáez, Rocío, Catálogo de Dibujos II. Dibujos españoles siglo XVIII. A-B, Madrid, 1975, p.68
