The Triumph of the Cross

Eugenio Cajés (Caxés)

about 1613–1634

Brush drawing in brown wash over red and black chalk, Chalk

J. Paul Getty Museum

A group of figures are gathered below a large cross supported by cherubs. The scene is rendered in brown wash and chalk. The steep perspective of the cross and the suggestion of heaven's spatial infinity indicate that Eugenio Cajés probably made this square drawing as a preparatory study for a ceiling painting, probably in a chapel dedicated to the cross. In his late work, Cajés characteristically employed these graceful figures, these rhythmically flowing forms, and this chiaroscuro effect in brush and wash. His convincing illusionism in rendering the cross required extensive knowledge of perspective, which he may have gained from his study of Italian architecture. "Acquisitions/1994." The J. Paul Getty Museum Journal 23 (1995), p. 76, no. 24.