Saint Isidore the Labourer (San Isidro Labrador)

In this drawing, which Francisco de Goya made in preparation for the execution of the etching of the same name, neither the oxen nor the angel from the finished work are present. In the preparatory drawing he has sketched Saint Isidore illuminated by a celestial light, looking up to heaven, his arms opened wide, kneeling on the ground.

We do not know why the artist only depicts here the figure, the patron saint of Madrid, and leaves out the other elements which feature in the background of the print, the oxen and the angel, whose wings can just about be made out. It is possible that at the beginning the etching was just as conceived here in the preparatory drawing and that perhaps the figures in the background were a later improvisation.

The execution of the print caused certain technical problems for the artist, leading him to discard the plate as unusable, which is why we only have this one impression.