Saint Potenciana and Saint Euphrasius
Ca. 1657.Not on display
Saint Potenciana and Saint Euphrasius are depicted standing on pedestals to the left and the right of the page. Above and behind Saint Potenciana there is a garland of fruit, and in the upper middle register (which is slightly damaged), a small angel flanks a space in the shape of a coat of arms.
The careful and planned interplay between the contours and the ink as well as the subdued preparation are very typical of Cano. There is another drawing and a printed cover that are very closely related to this one. The drawing corresponds to Saint Potenciana and Saint Euphrasius (around 1657) housed in The Courtauld Institute. The printed cover depicts the Life and Martyrdom, Passage and Miracles of Saint Euphrasius, Bishop and Patron Saint of Andújar, by Mr Antonio Terrones y Robles. Cano’s contribution to the design of this cover reveals that his contact with engravers and publishers from Madrid also continued in Granada. The absence of inscriptions on the Saints’ pedestals is what drives the hypothesis that Cano’s drawing may have been a study model that could have been adapted as a cover for more than one book or even that it could have been intended for ejecutorias (letters patent) for which Pacheco and others often produced designs.
Veliz, Zahira, Alonso Cano (1601-1667): dibujos, Santander, Fundación Marcelino Botín, 2009, p.398-401; Nº 84
