Lot Essay
In a Spanish 17th Century carved giltwood frame.
The only known sketch for the large (319 x 201cm.) altarpiece now in the Museo de Bellas Artes, Seville (Valdivieso, op. cit., no.150 and colour pl.132). The early provenance of that picture is unknown but it has always been accompanied by a pendant 'Assumption of the Virgin' (idem, no.148 and colour pl.131) for which a sketch on panel of identical size to the present picture was sold in these Rooms, 5 July 1985, lot 86, and is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (idem, no.147 and colour pl.30). Both sketches display similarly spirited brushwork, establishing compositional and tonal relationships, and both differ considerably from the finished altarpieces (which have arched tops evidently not foreseen at this preparatory stage). While Kinkead dates the pictures circa 1665, Valdivieso favours a slightly later dating, circa 1670-2
The only known sketch for the large (319 x 201cm.) altarpiece now in the Museo de Bellas Artes, Seville (Valdivieso, op. cit., no.150 and colour pl.132). The early provenance of that picture is unknown but it has always been accompanied by a pendant 'Assumption of the Virgin' (idem, no.148 and colour pl.131) for which a sketch on panel of identical size to the present picture was sold in these Rooms, 5 July 1985, lot 86, and is now in the Cleveland Museum of Art (idem, no.147 and colour pl.30). Both sketches display similarly spirited brushwork, establishing compositional and tonal relationships, and both differ considerably from the finished altarpieces (which have arched tops evidently not foreseen at this preparatory stage). While Kinkead dates the pictures circa 1665, Valdivieso favours a slightly later dating, circa 1670-2