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Design for an altarpiece with Saint Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Lucy

Maker

Attributed to, or Workshop of
Gaspar Becerra (artist)
1520-1570

Title

Date of Production

(circa) 1572 - 1573

Medium

blind stylus and ruler, black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, on laid paper, now laid down on Japanese tissue (examined under microscope)

Dimensions

Height: 25.7 cm
Width: 38.8 cm

Accession Number

D.1952.RW.2896

Mode of Acquisition

Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

retablos

Label Text

This elaborate design for an altarpiece is typical of a large-scale commission received by a workshop in sixteenth-century Spain. As the sheet was trimmed at the top, the structure, yet unidentified, was even larger. Both painted and sculpted components are included within the architectural framework, their iconography being indicated by inscriptions such as “Saint Francis of Padua” (left), “our lady of the habit” (centre), and “the supper” (right predella panel).

Provenance

Constance Edwina Cornwallis-West, 2nd Duchess of Westminster (1876-1970); her sale, Sotheby's (London), 12-27 April 1915; purchased there or at another Sotheby's sale by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952); Witt Bequest 1952

Exhibition History

The Spanish Line - From Ribera to Picasso, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 13/10/2011-15/01/2012

Spanish drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1978 (March - May)

Architectural Drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/07/1961-01/10/1961

Literature

Mulcahy, Rosemary, 'Review: Spanish drawings in the Courtauld Gallery. Complete catalogue. By Zahira Véliz' in 'The Burlington Magazine', September 2011 - pp. 646-47; CLIV
p. 646

Véliz, Zahira, Spanish Drawings in the Courtauld Gallery: complete catalogue, London, 2011
no. 3
ill. on p. 57

Angulo Iñiguez, Diego and Alfonso E. Perez, A Corpus of Spanish Drawings, New York 1975-1988; 4 vols.
vol. I, p. 90, no. 522
pl. CXV
as Anonymous ...More

Spanish drawings from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1978 (March - May)
cat. no. 1

Architectural Drawings from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1961
cat. no. 25

Mayer, August L., 'Los dibujos espanoles de la coleccion Witt en Londres' in 'Arte Espanol', 1926-27 - pp. 2-4; VIII, 1
p. 2 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: none.

Inscription: Recto, all within drawing, brown ink, artist’s hand: left compartment: “sanfranziscodepadua”; central compartment: “nuestra señorade habito”; left predella: “labatorio”; right predella: “lazena”; left centre edge: a scale with marked intervals; lower left edge: “[…]lang san / juan”; right lower edge, cut off: “S[...]”.

Collector's mark: none.

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