Church of Saint Paul, Valladolid

This exceptional watercolour, in which Pérez Villaamil draw the exceptional façade of the church of Saint Paul in Valladolid (the only building remaining of the old Dominican monastery founded in 1276 by Mrs. Violante, the wife of Alphonse X), is an example of his fluid technique, combining pencil and sienna and sepia for the lights and shadows of the architecture. In most cases, his drawings were preparatory sketches to be used later in his studio for doing more elaborate canvases or lithographs, such as those picturesque lithographs in his travel book España artística y monumental, vistas y descripción de los sitios y monumentos más notables de España, which however contains no copy of this monument. This has its explanation if we consider that the watercolour was painted in 1846 during a visit made by the artist to Asturias, Leon and Valladolid, when the aforementioned publication was already being edited in Paris.