Pedro de Campaña

Watermark: Anvil(?) in a circle, over letters "IP", surmounted with a cross or a T(?).
The drawing is a study for one of Pedro de Campaña's finest paintings, the main altarpiece in the church of Santa Ana in the Barrio de Triana of Seville, commissioned in 1557 and installed in around 1564. In the drawing, the delicate handling of the wash and the elegant, elongated figures recall the art of Parmigianino, an influential figure from Pedro's experience in Italy. This is one of only two known drawings connected to this project; the other, a study for another panel of the Santa Ana altarpiece, is in the Museo Casa de la Moneda, Madrid. Born to a family of tapestry designers, de Campaña left the Netherlands in 1530 for Bologna, where he assisted with decorations for the coronation of Charles V, before continuing to Seville, where he became that city's foremost painter. This sheet is a study for his 1564 altarpiece in the church of Santa Ana de Triana. The influence of Italian Mannerism, specifically that of Parmigianino, is manifest in the fluid, elongated figures of Mary and St. Anne. The hen and chicks in the foreground foreshadow the births of Christ and Saint John the Baptist.
Originally from Brussels, Pieter Kempeneer is generally known by his Spanish name, Pedro de Campaña. After assisting with decorations for the coronation of Charles v in Bologna, he moved to Seville and became the city's leading painter. This drawing is one of only two surviving preparatory sheets for his main altarpiece in the Church of Santa Ana de Triana in Seville. It depicts the episode when the pregnant Virgin visits her cousin Elizabeth, who is pregnant with John the Baptist. The hen and chicks in the foreground herald the imminent births. --Exhibition Label, from "Visions and Nightmares: Four Centuries of Spanish Drawings"