Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Figure Ascending Over a Crowd

Eugenio Lucas
1817-1870

Figure Ascending Over a Crowd

ca. 1850
12 5/8 x 8 7/8 inches (321 x 225 mm)
Brown wash over black chalk on wove paper.
I, 111h

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan in 1909.

Notes
Formerly attributed to Anonymous, Spanish School, mid-19th cent.
This sheet is one of the most abstract and painterly of Lucas's drawings. The composition is difficult to read, its obscure forms implying a subject of allegory, religion, or witchcraft. The principal rising figure is shrouded in white, its arms extending toward the top of the page. The artist's vigorous technique is apparent in the visible brushstrokes and layering of wash. Identical in size to Death Reading from a Human Lectern, Congregation in Background (inv. no. I, 111c), this drawing may be seen as its pendant, the two works representing death and resurrection, respectively. --Exhibition Label, from "Visions and Nightmares: Four Centuries of Spanish Drawings"
Associated names
Fortuny, Mariano, 1838-1874, Formerly attributed to.
Anonymous, Spanish School, 19th cent., Formerly attributed to.
Olschki, Leo S. (Leo Samuel), 1861-1940, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department