Saint Augustine Meditating on the Trinity

Together on the beach, the Saint gazes at the naked Christ Child, who sits next to a hole. The Trinity appears in the sky with dead Christ in the arms of the Father. The composition is framed below a rounded arch.

This is a preparatory drawing for an altar canvas. Because it has been thought to have been made in relation to the decoration of the church of the Encarnación in Madrid, it was probably produced around 1770. The church decoration includes four large canvases on the life of Saint Augustine by Andrés Ginés de Aguirre, Gregorio Ferro, Francisco Ramos, and Castillo. The drawing’s subject was definitively painted by Ferro with a very different scheme, while Castillo painted the subject of Saint Augustine helping the needy. Nevertheless, the proportions and character suggest that Castillo produced this and the following drawing with that commission in mind. In the group of the Trinity, he was inspired by a composition by his master Giaquinto in the church of San Giovanni Calibita in Rome.

Pérez Sánchez, Alfonso E., Museo del Prado, Catálogo de Dibujos, III. Dibujos Españoles. Siglo XVIII. C-Z, Madrid, 1977, p.22