Attributed to Claudio Coello

Bears unidentified collector's mark on the mount (L.519);
sale, London, Christie's South Kensington, 8 December 2011, lot 229 (as Italian School, 17th Century),
where purchased by the present owner

 

Energetically drawn in pen and ink, the present study for an adoration is stylistically similar to Claudio Coello's Martyrdom of Saint John the Evangelist, in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid.¹  The attribution to Claudio Coello has been suggested by Dr. Zahira Véliz, former curator of the Apelles Collection.

Claudio Coello (1642 - 1693), son of the celebrated Portuguese sculptor, Faustino Coello, was born in Madrid and began his artistic career under the tutelage of Francesco Rizi.  Coello continued to promote the Baroque style throughout his career, working on numerous commissions for churches and convents throughout Madrid.

1.  Dessins espagnols: Maîtres des XVIe et XVIIe siècles, exhib. cat., Paris, Musée du Louvre, 1991, p. 133, no. 58, reproduced