A NEWLY DISCOVERED DESIGN FOR AN ALTARPIECE
This recently discovered sheet has been attributed to Carreño de Miranda, an artist who succeeded Velázquez as the most talented portrait painter in Madrid. The energetically described Christ borne aloft by putti recalls the composition of Carreño's altarpiece depicting the Mass of St. John of Matha, commissioned by the Trinitarian order for their new monastic church in Pamplona. Since Carreño is less known as a draftsman and few examples of his work in ink and wash survive for comparison, it leaves open the possibility that this study was executed by another Spanish, or even Italian, artist.
Attributed to Juan Carreño de Miranda (1614-1685), Studies of Christ in Glory, ca. 1660s