Vicente Carducho and Drawings of the "Life and Posthumous Miracles of St. Diego of Alcalá"

Florentine-born Vicente Carducho (ca. 1576/78-1638), who died in Madrid, was undoubtedly one of the most respected and prestigious painters in early 17th-century Spain. Apart from his vast pictorial production and his work as a theoretician and writer, Carducho was one of the most important draftsmen of the Spanish Golden Age. The eight sketches studies in this article relate to one or more series devoted to the "Life of St. Diego of Agalá" (ca. 1400-1463), the first Spanish Franciscan saint, who was canonized in 1588. The drawings are interesting because of the apparent complexity in terms of both authorship and chronology. Due to this complexity, they will be considered here both individually and collectively, always keeping in mind the thematic and stylistic unity. Although it is almost impossible to provide definite answers to all the problems they pose, we would like at least to discuss a number of plausible hypotheses resulting from their study. [Publication Abstract]