Study for Saint Francis. Verso: Study for the Drapery of an Angel

The recto of this sheet is a careful study for the drapery of St. Francis in Tiepolo's St. Francis receiving the Stigmata, commissioned in 1767 for the Franciscan monastery of S. Pascual Baylon, built ca. 1765-67 under the patronage of King Charles III in the royal town of Aranjuez, south of Madrid. The painting is now in the collection of the Museo del Prado, Madrid; a preparatory modello for the work is in the Courtauld Institute Gallery, London. The verso is a study for the drapery covering the upper torso and arms of the angel in the altarpiece of The Vision of S. Pascual Baylon, the high altar for the same church. Two fragments of the altarpiece (which was replaced by a painting by Mengs) survive in the collection of the Museo del Prado, although the drawn study of the drapery corresponds more closely to the modello, also in the Courtauld, than to the final painting. The altarpieces were commissioned in March 1767 and the modelli were shown to the king in late August 1767; the drawings thus presumably date to mid-1767 as well.