Bartolomé Esteban Murillo
Standing Male Figure: Study for a Portrait, ca. 1660
Pen and brown ink over traces of black chalk underdrawing on off-white paper
5 5/8 × 4 in. (14.3 × 10.2 cm)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Rogers Fund, 1965
© The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Image source: Art Resource, NY
Beginning in the 1650s, Murillo painted a series of full-length portraits. After a trip to Madrid in 1658, he was profoundly influenced by the art of Titian, Rubens, Van Dyck, and Velázquez, whose work he admired in the royal collection in the capital. Only five drawings for portraits by Murillo have been identified. This one must be connected to a painting that was either never executed or is lost. Drawings such as this were used by the artist to plan an overall composition and possibly also to seek approval from patrons.