Figure of Fantastic Human-like Creature with Long Tail (recto); Fragment of a Letter or Document (verso)

Art Historical Context

This intriguing drawing from 17th-century Seville captures a fantastical human-like creature with an elongated tail, rendered on the recto of a small sheet of ivory paper. Created anonymously the vibrant School of Seville Spain’s Golden Age, such imaginative figures often emerged from a cultural milieu rich in mythological storytelling, religious symbolism, and artistic experimentation alongside masters like Velázquez and Murillo. The artist employed pen and brown ink with brush-applied brown wash over a black chalk underdrawing, a technique that lends fluid contours and subtle tonal depth to the creature’s form. On the verso, a fragment of script from a letter or document hints at the practical reuse of paper in artists’ studios, a layer of everyday history to this intimate work measuring just 4-15/16 by 6-11/16 inches. Now part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of Drawings and Prints, the piece was generously donated by Mr. and Mrs. William B. Jaffe in 1956, inviting viewers to appreciate the playful creativity and skilled draftsmanship of anonymous Spanish artists.