Drawings

The drawings collection is comprised of two hundred seventy-one items and stands out due to its quality and the variety of European artists, especially from the Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch and Flemish School. Out of the entire set, we shall highlight twenty drawings to give an idea of this important collection. In 2010, the Museum recovered the original atmosphere arranged by the Marquis of Cerralbo - the Drawings Hall on the Main Floor of the institution. For preventive conservation reasons, the works on exhibit in this room are high quality reproductions of the originals which are kept in storage along with the rest of the paper collections.

The origin of these works and the way they were acquired is the result of the work and effort of the 17th Marquis of Cerralbo. Most likely he purchased many of them at the Hôtel Drouot auctions in Paris. This would explain the numerous French artists included in the collection.

The description of each drawing includes data on the material, medium, technique, inscriptions, signatures, dates and watermarks if there are any as well as the author of the work according to the data in the inventory completed by Juan Cabré in 1924. Later on, Consuelo Sanz Pastor and Fernández de Pierola published the Catalogue of Drawings (1976) which provided new information on the collection.

Great artists are included in this selection as prime examples of art and artistic styles. From the 16th century: Andrea Boscoli, Lucas Cambiaso, Sebastiano Folli, Veronese and Zuccaro; from the 17th century: Pablo Decker, el Viejo, Guerchino and Nieuwlandt; from the 18th century: Francisco de Goya, José Castillo, Mariano Salvador Maella and from the 19th century: Máximo Juderías Caballero and G. Atam.