The Drapery

Detail: Christ's robe
In the areas of the drapery, the artist used a layering technique that imparted an intense luminosity. For example, in Mary's red robe, Zurbarán first defined the area and contour of the garment with an opaque warm tan. This underpainting canceled the influence of the gray-brown color of the ground here, providing a light, warm layer over which the artist then applied the red body color of the drapery. The luminosity of the red increases by having a substrate that reflects more light through the red paint than would the gray-brown; the areas surrounding the draperies appear somber not only due to the different pigment mixtures, but because their luminosity is not enhanced by a light-reflecting underlying layer. On top of the medium red tone, perhaps when it was still wet in places, Zurbarán then brushed the dark, transparent red that forms the drapery's shadows; the darkest shadows on the right side of the Virgin consist of the dark transparent red brushed over the warm tan underpainting.
Detail: Mary's robe	Much of this "glazing" has been adversely affected by undocumented cleanings carried out in the distant past. Highlights were painted with an opaque tint of red mixed with white. The lead white used in this color made it much less susceptible to solvents used to clean the picture. Thus, these areas remain closer to their original appearance than the areas of the midtones and shadows.
Detail: X-ray of Christ's hands	The drapery of Christ's tunic was also painted in several layers. As in the Virgin's robe, the contour of Christ's tunic was delineated and filled in with an opaque, light underpaint that blocks the dark ground. The underpaint used here is a cream color, not the light ochre found under Mary's tunic. It serves as the base for the body color of the drapery. There is evidence in the x-radiograph that this lighter tone was used solely for the undertone of the blue drapery, and not for Jesus' fleshtones.
Detail: Red robe cross section	In a detail of the area of Christ's hands, there is a small oval left in reserve where Jesus' hands would eventually be painted directly over the gray-brown ground. The robe of Jesus is painted in two layers over the cream-colored base. In a cross-section of this area, it is evident that a pink tone was laid in, consisting of red particles of a lake pigment mixed with white. The blue color is found in the top layer.
Diagram: Red robe cross section	In the folds, shadows consist of greater concentrations of blue and rose particles, and in the darkest shadows, as on the right side of the figure, dark opaque layers were applied over the underpaint. The addition of the red lake particles gives the robe its pinkish, or mauve, tonality.
Detail: Blue robe cross section
Diagram: Blue robe cross section

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