A Carthusian Friar, Bowing in Humility
1626 - 1632.Not on display
Carducho had the ability to endow the figure with enormous expressivity, which is most noticeable in the face and the hands in prayer. Nearly undetectable highlights of white pigment are barely perceptible on the hood and part of the monk’s habit. All of the previous studies indicate that the sheet must be related to the paintings that Carducho produced for El Paular, although no exact correspondence has been found. Therefore, it must correspond to a study that the artist did not use in the end. Nevertheless, there are figures in very similar poses to other paintings in the series, including The Martyrdom of Four Monks at the Roermond Charterhouse (P3612) and The Virgin, accompanied by Saint Joseph and Saint John the Baptist, Shelters the Carthusian Order beneath her Robes (P5243). These similarities confirm their association with the works for El Paular.
On the reverse side of the drawing, a female figure is depicted in pencil. She appears slightly foreshortened, with her right hand raised as if holding something (the sheet appears to have been cut) and her left hand on her belt, wielding what resembles a sword. This suggests that she is Judith, in which case the object she is holding in her right hand would have been the head of Holofernes. In addition, the sheet is attached to another 16th-century Italian drawing that depicts the apostle James the Great.
When considering its origin, it possibly falls within the book depicting ‘77 Drawings of stories of Saint Bruno for El Paular both of main stories and single figures’ or it may belong to the set of 89 drawings of ‘Cloth and figures’ listed in the inventory of assets drawn up in 1638 upon the painter’s death. From then onwards, all trace of it was lost until its donation to the Prado in 1930 by the collector Pedro Fernández Durán.
Pascual Chenel, Á.; Rodríguez Rebollo, A., Vicente Carducho. Dibujos Catálogo razonado, Madrid, Biblioteca Nacional de España - Centro de Estudios Europa Hispánica, 2015, p.337-440 [438-439 n.P30]
