Live Auction 2282Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings, & Watercolors
Alonso Cano (Granada 1601-1667)
Lot 120

Alonso Cano (Granada 1601-1667)

Design for an elaborate altarpiece with a central panel of The Way to Calvary with Saint Veronica, flanked by panels of Saint Peter and Saint Anthony Abbot and two half-length bishop saints, surmounted by a panel of the Immaculate Conception, surrounded by panels possibly of Saints Clare and Ferdinand of Seville, God the Father above

Closed27 January 2010

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USD 194,500

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Alonso Cano (Granada 1601-1667)
Design for an elaborate altarpiece with a central panel of The Way to Calvary with Saint Veronica, flanked by panels of Saint Peter and Saint Anthony Abbot and two half-length bishop saints, surmounted by a panel of the Immaculate Conception, surrounded by panels possibly of Saints Clare and Ferdinand of Seville, God the Father above
with inscription 'Alonso Cano'
stylus indentations, black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash, arched top, on four joined sheets, minor losses
15 3/8 x 11 in. (39 x 28 cm.)

Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Bt., and by descent to
Lt.-Col. W. Stirling; Sotheby's, London, 21 October 1963, part of lot 18 (as School of Seville, about 1640).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 21 June 1974, lot 46 (as Studio of Alonso Cano).
A. Franklin, London, and by descent to the present owner.

Specialist note

This imposing design for an altarpiece, which considers not only the various interrelating painted panels but also the elaborate wooden structure in which they are presented, cannot be linked to any surviving decorative scheme. Cano has experimented with subtly different alternatives for the decorative motifs on each side of the sheet. The drawing probably dates from his period in Seville, between 1630 and 1640.
This drawing was formerly in the collection of the renowned collector Sir William Stirling-Maxwell, Bt. (1818-1878). He was one of the earliest collectors of Spanish drawings in England and published the seminal Annals of the artists of Spain in 1848 (See H. Macartney, 'Sir William Stirling Maxwell: Scholar of Spanish Art' in Espacio, tiempo y forma, 7, 12.1999, pp. 287-316).
The present sheet will be included in Dr. Zahira Véliz's forthcoming catalogue raisonné of Alonso Cano's drawings.