Saint Agnes

Francisco de Zurbarán
Fuente de Cantos, Badajoz, 1598 – Madrid, 1664
Date: c. 1635
Dimensions: 161.30 x 126.50 cm
Materials: Oil on canvas
Canvas traditionally considered by most of the abundant historiography to be a work by Francisco de Zurbarán. In 2010 it was catalogued by Odile Delenda as a workshop work, attributing it to the so-called Master of San Hermenegildo, although she had not been able to observe the work directly. A decade later, and after a long study, the result of the observations and analyses carried out by the CAEM team leads us once again to defend Zurbarán’s authorship, without this in any way diminishing the admiration we profess for this great researcher. The attributive debate is, in fact, inherent to the scientific approach of the discipline of art history.

  • APARICIO, Miguel Ángel; PIZARRO, Francisco Javier: El merino en la pintura española. Siglos XIV al XVIII, Badajoz, 1998.
  • CASCALES Y MUÑOZ, José: Francisco de Zurbarán: su época y sus obras, Madrid, 1911.
  • DELENDA, Odile: Francisco de Zurbarán: 1598 – 1664, vol. II: Los conjuntos y el obrador, Madrid, 2010.
  • ESPASA CALPE (ed.): Diccionario enciclopédico Espasa, HO-INSUS, Tomo 28 (1st part),Madrid, 1925.
  • FRATI, Tiziana; GAYA NUÑO, Juan Antonio: La obra pictórica completa de Zurbarán, Barcelona, 1974 (1st ed. Milan, 1973).
  • GÁLLEGO, Julián; GUDIOL, José: Zurbarán, Barcelona, 1976.
  • GAYA NUÑO, Juan Antonio: Zurbarán, Barcelona, 1948.
  • GUINARD, Paul: Zurbarán y los pintores españoles de la vida monástica, Madrid, 1976 (1st ed. París, 1960).
  • HEINEMANN, Rudolf: The Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection , Castagnola-Ticino, 1969.
  • KEHRER, Hugo: Francisco de Zurbarán, Munich, 1918.
  • MAYER, Augusto, L.: Historia de la pintura española, Madrid, 1942.
  • MAYER, Augusto L: Die sevillaner Malerschule, Lepzig, 1911.
  • MAYER, Augusto L.: Geschichte der spanischen Malerei, Leipzig, 1929 (1st ed. 1913).
  • MUSÉE DU PETIT PALAIS (ed.): Collection Thyssen-Bornemisza (cat. expo.), Petit Palais, París, 1982.
  • MUSEUM BOYMANS-VAN BEUNINGEN (ed.): Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Collectie Thyssen-Bornemisza (cat. expo), Rotterdam, 1959-1960.
  • MUSEUM FOLKWANG (ed.): Museum Folkwang, Sammlung Thyssen-Bornemisza (cat. expo.), Essen, 1960.
  • PANTORBA, Bernardino de: Francisco de Zurbarán, Barcelona, 1946.
  • ROSENBAUM, Allen: Old Master Paintings from the Collection of Baron Thyssen- Bornemisza (cat. expo), Washington, 1979.
  • SORIA, Martín S.: “Zurbarán. A Study of his style”, Gazzette des Beaux Arts, XXV, 1944.
  • VINIEGRA, Salvador: Official illustrated catalogue of the exhibition of the works of Francisco de Zurbarán, Madrid, 1905.
  • VOLLMER, Hans: “Zurbarán”, en Thieme, U.; Becker, F. (Eds.) Künstler Lexikon, XXXVI, 1947.
  • WETHEY, Harold E.: Alonso Cano, Madrid, 1955.

  • Collection of Don Jaime Roca de Togores y Téllez-Girón (1862–1921), 16th Duke of Béjar
  • Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (1957–1984); Sotheby’s London, 5 July 1984, lot 260.
  • Anonymous sale; Christie’s, London, 29 May 1992, lot 318
  • Anonymous sale; Christie’s, New York, 6 June 2012, lot 39