Mercury charcoal and chalk drawing on paper attributable to José da Cunha Taborda (1766-1836) Dimensões (altura x comprimento x largura) - 25 x 19,5 cm Notes: "Although neither signed nor dated, this beautiful study for a figure of the god Mercury, represented in half body, is attributable to José da Cunha Taborda (1766-1836), one of the painters who work on the decoration of the Ajuda Palace. The typology used in the representation of the figure is, in fact, very close to that which appears in one of the doors'  upper parts of his authorship, the so-called Salinha dos Cães (little chamber of the hounds), of this Palace. The technique of preparing the white paper sheet with a previous preparation in blue-gray ink, adjusts to what was common at the time, in order to improve the value of any simple black pencil study, allowing to enhance the bright highlights of the white chalk. The scarcity of coloured (import) paper, during the period of the French invasions, in which this sheet must have been drawn, often led artists to use this archaic method again." Lisbon, November 18, 2019 Alexandra Gomes Markl