Francisco de Herrera el Mozo

Through lively penwork, de Herrera imparted a sense of movement to the substantial figure of the Virgin and the stable, classical pyramid form of the group. The artist's fertile imagination worked quickly; after doing some sketching with black chalk, he applied free-flowing, crisscrossing, tangled threads of ink ranging from the dark squiggles of the Virgin's drapery to the light tracings on the angels' robes below. The fluent washes add drama to the composition.