We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Pierluigi Leone De Castris, Christophe Defrance, Valeria Di Giuseppe Di Paolo, Constance Henry, Riccardo Lattuada, Mauro Lucco, Stefania Mason Rinaldi, Bert W. Meyer, Alessandro Nesi, Andrea Piai, and Antoine Tarantino for their invaluable assistance in the study of the artworks and the writing of this catalogue.
The descriptions are written by Charles Duponchel, unless otherwise stated in this table of contents.
All the works presented in this catalog are ready to hang: the paintings are framed, and the drawings are mounted and framed. The mounts and frames are described in detail on the work descriptions published on our website: www.galerieduponchel.com
Giovanni Francesco CAROTO
Mozzanica or Bergamo, circa 1475-78 - Verona, 1555
Penitent Saint Jerome
Circa 1515-1518
Oil on poplar panel - 22 1/4 x 19 7/8 in. (56.5 x 50.5 cm)
Provenance:
Collection from the Brescia region before 1859 (customs stamps on the back of the panel)
Most recently, in a private collection in Hauts-de-France
We would like to thank Professor Mauro Lucco for writing the following study after having attributed our painting with certainty to Giovanni Francesco Caroto. A well known specialist in Venetian and Emilian painting, he has published a number of monographs that have become standard references (Giovanni Bellini, Andrea Mantegna, Giorgione, Bartolomeo Montagna, Antonello da Messina, Dosso Dossi…)
Our painting appeared as an unattributed work on the French art market in 2022. It is in an excellent state of conservation, with no real gaps in the painted surface and no major missing parts, as shown in the photo taken after the cleaning (ill.1) carried out by the Arcanes studio in Paris rt
(ill. 1) our painting, before and after cleaning
This very good conservation is due not only to the great care taken by the artist to ensure the work's durability, but also to the preparation of the back of the panel with a dark brown primer to prevent sagging due to the absorption of excess moisture. In small areas where this preparation has come off, the characteristic fibre of poplar wood is clearly visible.
It's true that, although Verona and Mantua are contiguous territories, making it easier to travel between the two cities, the presence in the Gonzaga city of the greatest painter of the time, Andrea Mantegna, made it much more attractive than the more populous Verona. Other details also point to this origin: the rocks jutting out like decayed teeth (ill. 4), to the left of the saint, are reminiscent of those in the Madonna of the Caves from the Uffizi, perhaps reinterpreted in a simpler and more prosaic manner by Antonio da Pavia (active between 1500 and 1514), as in the Nativity with Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Sebastian, formerly in the Ostiglia Hospital and now in the Diocesan Museum in Mantua, and dated to around 1506-15102
The landscape, which Manzoni might describe as "all sinuosities and gulfs", with mounds emerging from the water and a small frail tree indicating depth, can be found in other Mantuan works still influenced by Mantegna: for example, in a painting probably by Fermo Ghisoni (ill. 5), kept at the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin (inv. 135) and painted after the engraving of the Madonna of Humility by the great master around the middle of the century. If these details point to a rather unambiguous cultural origin, we will have to look among the Veronese artists who stayed in Mantua for more or less time, during the chronological period deduced from the previous observations. The fact that there are very few of them,
(ill. 5) Comparison with the landscape of the Virgin of Humility attributed to Fermo Ghisoni (details)
2 Michele Danieli, in Mantegna a Mantova, 1460-1506, exhibition catalogue, Milan, 2006, pp. 144-145
(ill. 4) comparison with the Madonna of the Caves by Andrea Mantegna and the Nativity with Saint Anthony Abbot and Saint Sebastian by Antonio da Pavia (details)
These physiognomies are also to be found, in my opinion, in one of the major works of the artist's career, the Lamentation over the Dead Christ (ill. 9), formerly in the Fontana collection in Turin, signed on the reverse and dated 1515: an essential document for a crucial moment in his career, that of his service at the court of the Palaeologus in Casale Monferrato. In reality, we know nothing precise about the circumstances of her employment. It has been speculated that it may have been facilitated by the Veronese sculptor Matteo Sanmicheli (active until 1528), who was present at the Palaeologus court between 1510 and 1517 and was a cousin of the more famous architect Michele (1484-1559), who may also have recommended him to the Marquis, or by Antonio Maria Visconte himself, Caroto's Milanese patron and protector.
The first mention of our artist in Casale dates from 12 July 1516 and concerns a donation of land by William IX, of which he was the beneficiary. Apart from other considerations about the profession and role of painters, this implies that the two men had known each other for some time. Given that the Lamentation over the Dead Christ, already painted at the time, is probably what remains of the decoration of William IX's private chapel, it is not unreasonable to think that Caroto arrived in the city as early as 1514, almost as an immediate replacement for Macrino d'Alba (circa 1460-1513). In fact, there is no trace of this painter after his Madonna and Child from a private collection in Turin, dated 21 October 1513, which would have disappeared at that time.
The signed altarpiece with Saint Sebastian (ill. 11), which is still in the church of Santo Stefano, its original location, also belongs to the same Casale period. In addition to other cultural influences, it features the detail of a little finger stretched outwards, as in our Saint Jerome (ill. 9).
(ill. 8) The little finger of our Saint Jerome compared with that of the little finger of the Saint Sebastian from the altarpiece in the church of Santo Stefano in Casale
But I believe that beyond the occasional coincidence of motifs, we must recognise the very strong kinship that exists between our painting and the Lamentation over the Dead Christ ex-Fontana (ill. 11): the arrangement of the folds, the deep tonality of the palette, the similarity of the gestures, the volumetric power of the forms contrasted by the nervousness of the fingers form a genuine encounter on common ground. Nor would I want to waste any more time enumerating other small "Morellian" details, such as the -
rounded shape of the fingernails and toenails, which recurs in characteristic fashion throughout Caroto's work. What is more important, however, is to emphasise that, in a seemingly discontinuous career marked by numerous breaks, the absolute equivalence of style with the ex-Fontana painting of 1515 also places our painting in the artist's happiest period, at the court of the Palaeologus of Casale Monferrato, which has yet to be explored in greater depth to reveal, if possible, something more about this remarkable and elusive artist.
All in all, this is a very important discovery, which also makes it possible to better assess Caroto's importance in the context of Veronese painting of the 16th century, which, at least until the last monographic exhibition in 2022, did not yet seem to be well established.
Mauro Lucco (translated from Italian by us)
Painted during the artist's stay in Casale Monferrato of William IX Paleologus, our panel joins the only
(ill. 9) Giovanni Francesco Caroto, Lamentation over the Dead Christ (Turin, private collection)
Polidoro CALDARA, called POLIDORO da CARAVAGGIO Caravaggio, 1499 - Messina, 1543
Madonna and Child Saint John the Baptist
Pen and brown ink - 2 5/32 x 2 11/32 in. ( 5.5 x 6 cm)
General bibliography:
Pierluigi Leone De Castris, Polidoro da Caravaggio - L’opera Completa, Naples, 2001
Pierluigi Leone De Castris (ed.), Polidoro da Caravaggio fra Napoli e Messina, Milan, 1988
Dominique Cordellier, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Paris, 2007
Our warmest thanks go to Professor Pierluigi Leone De Castris for confirming the attribution of our drawing to Polidoro da Caravaggio. A specialist in our artist, he has published, among other works, his latest catalogue raisonné
A rediscovered work by "Polidoro, that original and agile talent" (Vasari)
Our drawing is a discovery: acquired as anonymous, we have been able to attribute it with certainty to Polidoro da Caravaggio, thanks to the help of Professor Pierluigi Leone De Castris.
Born in Caravaggio in 1499, Polidoro moved to Rome, where he first worked as a labourer in the Vatican. There, he became friends with the painters Perin del Vaga (1501-1547), Giovanni da Udine (1587-1561) and Giulio Romano (1499-1546), who introduced him to their master, Raphael. It was thus in the most prestigious workshop of his time that the young Polidoro da Caravaggio learned his craft as a painter, notably by taking part in the decorations of the Vatican Loggias for Pope Leo X, between 1517 and 1518.
From 1522, he joined forces with Maturino da Firenze (1490-1528), with whom he specialised in painting palace facades in chiaroscuro, in imitation of antic bas-reliefs. This activity forged the fame of both artists in the Eternal City (Vasari mentions thirty-two works in this genre).
Following the sack of Rome in 1527, he fled to Naples and then to Messina, where he enjoyed great success as both a painter and an architect. He worked there for the most prestigious patrons, including Ettore Pignatelli, the vice-king of Sicily, and Charles V himself, for whom he created the decorations for his triumphal entry into Messina in 1535.
In 1543, when Polidoro had collected a large sum of money with the aim of returning to Rome, he was murdered by one of his pupils who stole his loot.
While his frescoes in Roman palaces, often copied and engraved, and which established his fame throughout Europe, have almost entirely disappeared today, we still have an important body of his drawings, which, unusually, were collected by enthusiasts as early as the 16th century. One of the earliest known collectors of drawings, Francisco de Holanda (circa 1517-1584), owned several sheets by Polidoro da Caravaggio.
rt
A sharp, lively line, typical of Polidoro's pen-and-ink drawings
Our sheet shows an astonishing representation of the Virgin and Child and the little Saint John the Baptist. Their figures, executed with a sure and vigorous pen, are highly stylised, with exaggeratedly elongated proportions and disquieting, almost simian features. This singular treatment lends a certain strangeness to the whole, reinforced by the strong chiaroscuro created by a nervous network of cross-hatching.
This unusual manner, marked by stravaganza, is characteristic of Polidoro da Caravaggio's style. As Alessandro Marabottini1 points out, he quickly distinguished himself from Raphael and developed a mannerism close to that of Rosso (1495-1540), reflected in the increased stylisation and physical deformations of his figures.
These very strong characteristics are eminently present in his pen-and-ink drawings, whose "rough or abrupt signs become vibrant, and the figures larval"2. So, despite the relatively small size of our sheet, this strong aesthetic gives the holy figures in the drawing a certain monumentality.
Works to compare with ours
As Professor Pierluigi Leone De Castris confirmed to us, our sheet must be unreservedly attributed to Polidoro da Caravaggio, so typical is its graphic style of the artist's pen-and-ink drawings.
Among this corpus, two works in particular (ill. 1) are very similar in style to our drawing.
1 Alessandro Marabottini, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Rome, 1969
2 Dominique Cordellier, Polidoro da Caravaggio, Paris 2007, p.13 (ill. 1) Polidoro da Caravaggio, Saint Roch blessing a plague victim (Paris, Louvre) and Studies for a Saint John the Baptist (London, British Museum)
We find the same outré physiognomies, with deformed and elongated features and hands (ill. 2), as well as the same treatment of drapery and light rendered by a skilful network of nervous hatching.
(ill. 2) Our sheet compared with drawings in the Louvre and the British Museum (details)
(ill. 3) Polidoro da Caravaggio, Madonna and Child, (red chalk - 7,4 x 6,7 cm, private collection)
Our work can also be compared to a drawing with a similar subject (ill.4) held in a private collection and sold for €38,800 at Sotheby's in 2015 (lot no. 32, "Old Master & British Drawings", 08/07/2015). Although drawn in red chalk, this sheet, which is comparable in size to ours, has very similar graphic characteristics.
Il DISEGNATORE MISTERIOSO
often identified as the young EL GRECO (1541-1614) in Venice
Double study for a Christ and a Saint Jerome
Pen and brown ink - 8 1/2 x 6 5/16 in. (21.6 x 16 cm)
Provenance:
Kate Ganz Ltd, Exhibition Master Drawing 1500-1900, London, Summer 1989 (as Palma the Younger)
Sotheby's, New York, 8 January 1991, lot 12 (as Palma the Younger)
Comparative bibliography:
Stefania Mason Rinaldi, “Da una costola di Palma il Giovane: il disegnatore misterioso”, artibus et historique, no. 55, 2007, pp. 115-127
Nicholas Turner, “A proposal for El Greco as a draftsman”, Master Drawings, Volume 45, no. 3, 2007, pp. 291-324
We would like to thank Professor Stefania Mason for confirming that our drawing is by the Disegnatore Misterioso.
The Disegnatore Misterioso, the young Greco in Venice?
Previously attributed to Palma the Younger (1550-1628), our work is actually by the same hand as a group of drawings, characterised by a distinctive and easily recognisable style, whose author's identity is currently a subject of debate among specialists. In the absence of consensus, this master is conventionally referred to as "il Disegnatore Misterioso".
The style of his drawings, unmistakably Venetian of the late 16th century, is very close to those of Tintoretto (1519-1594), Schiavone (c.1510-1563) and Palma the Younger (1550-1628), although an attribution to one of these masters has not been convincingly established1. They were linked for the first time by the art historians Hans Tietze and Erica Tietze-Conrat, who realised that they belonged to the same hand and period. They catalogued them as "Palma the Younger in his tintoresque period", although they pointed out that this attribution is "difficult to prove"2. This hypothesis has now been unanimously refuted.
Art historian Nicholas Turner argues that the Disegnatore Misterioso was none other than the young Domenikos Theotokopoulos, universally known as El Greco, during his stay in Italy3. The famous master of Cretan origin, best known for his Toledo works under the patronage of Philip II of Spain, -
1 John Marciari, Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice, Catalogue of the exhibition at the Morgan Library, New York, 2019, Chap. 6, The Drawings of the Young El Greco in Italy, pp. 167-184
2 Hans Tietze and Erica Tietze-Conrat, The Drawings of the Venetian Painters in the 15th and 16th Centuries, New York, 1948, reprinted 1970
3 Nicholas Turner, “A proposal for El Greco as a draftsman”, Master Drawings. Volume 45, no. 3, 2007, pp. 291-324
stayed in Venice from 1568 to 1570, where he is said to have frequented the studio of Tintoretto, who had a profound influence on his style. In a highly convincing and well-supported demonstration, he uses the styles of two of the only three irrefutable drawings by El Greco (ill. 1) and proposes to compare several of his paintings with drawings by the Disegnatore Misterioso (example in ill. 2).
(ill. 1) El Greco, Saint John the Baptist and Saint John the evangelist (Genova, Jan Krugier Foundation)
Also published in 2007, Stefania Mason puts forward an alternative thesis, attributing his drawings to the Venetian painter Alessandro Maganza (1556-1632)4. The art historian bases her hypothesis on a comparison she makes between a sheet from the Disegnatore Misterioso corpus and a painting by Maganza depicting the Last Supper (ill. 3).
In the end, it matters little whether he is El Greco, Maganza, or another master, as the great “intense and frenetic quality” (Nicholas Turner) of the graphic work by the Disegnatore Misterioso seems evident to us, elevating this artist to the ranks of the most fascinating draughtsmen of Venice in the time of Tintoretto.
A vibrant drawing, typical of the Disegnatore Misterioso style
Our sheet presents two studies of figures, most likely independent of each other, though intertwined. The figure in the foreground can easily be identified as Saint Jerome. In keeping with the usual iconography, the holy hermit is depicted half-naked and kneeling in front of a cross (here finely sketched on the right), mortifying his chest with a stone in his right hand while holding a Bible in his left. Let us recall, indeed, that the saintly cardinal translated the four Gospels into Latin in 383. The study in the background depicts Christ, recognisable by his cruciform nimbus (cross-shaped halo). His raised arm and the square-shaped object (perhaps part of a tomb) from which he appears to be emerging lead us to assume that this is a study of a risen Christ.
Our drawing is entirely representative of the "intense and frenetic quality" of the Disegnatore Misterioso, to use Nicholas Turner's words. Its great visual strength lies in the intermingling of the two studies, rendered by a pen that is both free and ebullient, between Tintoretto and Palma the Younger. At times, the two figures seem hard to distinguish from one another, and appear almost as a kind of two-headed creature. This lively treatment, combined with the simplified, tangled forms of the figures, gives our drawing a very modern character (if we dare use this anachronism!).x
4 Stefania Mason Rinaldi, “Da una costola di Palma il Giovane: il disegnatore misterioso”, artibus et historique no. 55, 2007, pp. 115-127
(ill. 2) Nicholas Turner's comparison between a painting by El Greco (National Gallery in Athens) and two drawings by the Disegnatore Misterioso (Art Museum at Harvard and the Louvre Museum, respectively).
(ill. 3) Stefania Mason's comparison between a drawing by the Disegnatore Misterioso (in the Morgan Library) and the Last Supper by Alessandro Maganza (in Vicenza Cathedral)
Jacopo PALMA, called PALMA IL GIOVANE
Venice, 1550-1628
Group of four figures
(recto)
Three studies of seated men and a study of a young child’s head (verso)
Pen and brown ink wash over black chalk with white chalk highlights (recto)
Pen and brown ink (verso)
7 9/16 x 5 9/16 in. (19,2 x 14,2 cm)
General Bibliography:
Stefania Mason Rinaldi, Palma il Giovane: l'opera completa, Milan, 1984
Stefania Mason Rinaldi (ed.), Palma il Giovane, 1548-1628: disegni e dipinti, exhibition catalogue, Venice, museo Correr, 1990
We extend our sincere thanks to Professor Stefania Mason Rinaldi for confirming the autograph nature of our drawing.
Palma as a draughtsman: "synthesis and conclusion of the Venetian Renaissance”1
Nicknamed "Il Giovane" (The Younger) to distinguish him from his great-uncle Palma Negretti, or Palma Vecchio (c. 1480-1528), our artist trained under his father Antonio (1515-c. 1580) before attending drawing sessions in Tintoretto’s workshop (1518-1594), which left an indelible mark on his style. Very quickly, Palma Il Giovane began receiving prestigious commissions. Notably, he contributed to the ceiling decoration of the Sala del Maggior Consiglio in the Doge’s Palace, a project he shared with Tintoretto. After the deaths of the three great Venetian masters (Titian, Veronese, and Tintoretto) around the turn of the 17th century, Palma Il Giovane emerged as the leading painter of La Serenissima.
A virtuoso and prolific draughtsman, inventor of a powerful graphic style, described as "both the synthesis and conclusion of the Venetian Renaissance," he exerted a decisive influence on the practice of drawing in Venice during his time.
A double-sided sheet, witness to two complementary approaches by Palma
Our sheet offers an intriguing insight into two complementary facets of the artist’s work. While the recto presents a finished study, executed with meticulous precision and delicately applied wash, the verso features schematic studies, sketched rapidly with a pen that is both precise and energetic.
Although we have not identified a finished work directly related to the recto drawing, the harmonious arrangement of the figures suggests it may be a study for a coherent group of
1 John Marciari, Drawing in Tintoretto's Venice, Catalogue de l’exposition à la Morgan Library, New York, 2019, Chap. 7, “Sketches: the drawings of Palma Giovane”, p. 185
characters. In the absence of the rest of the composition, the subject remains difficult to interpret, though everything indicates that the artist is depicting a dramatic scene. The agitated, contorted postures of the two men reaching out towards a figure lying in darkness (a corpse?), their frightened expressions accentuated by the dense wash, and the presence of a soldier lurking in the shadows lend an ominous atmosphere to the scene. The strong chiaroscuro, achieved through skilful use of wash (alternately bold and subtly applied) and sparing touches of white chalk highlights, enhances the dramatic quality of this enigmatic composition.
The verso shows three studies of a seated male figure and a head study of a young child or putto. These sketches, drawn swiftly with a pen that is both assured and frenetic, reflect a practice inherited from Veronese (1528–1588), who often filled sheets with numerous small pen studies of figures. However, Palma's approach differs slightly: he spaces and organises his studies, unlike Veronese, who tended to juxtapose them almost continuously2
It seems appropriate to compare these pen drawings to those in the Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin and the Studienbibliothek in Salzburg (ill. 2), which Stefania Mason associates with figures from the monumental painting The Last Judgement in the Sala dello Scrutinio of the Doge’s Palace3. It is highly likely that our sketches are also primi pensieri for a character present in one of the numerous clouds of saints painted by Palma.
As for the head, it can easily be compared to numerous depictions of children (e.g. ill. 2), putti, or infant Jesuses painted by Palma, although none of them can be definitively linked to our sheet.
(ill. 2) The Birth of the Virgin (detail) from the Chiesa Parrocchiale di Trebaseleghe compared to our study
2 Andrew Robinson, La Poesia della Luce: Disegni veneziani dalla National Gallery of Art di Washington, exhibition catalogue, Venice, museo Correr, 2014-15, no. 32
3 Stefania Mason Rinaldi, 1984, p. 272
Pietro MALOMBRA
Venice, 1556-1618
Massacre of the innocents
Circa 1586-1590
Pen and brown wash - 8 1/16 x 11 13/16 in. (20,5 x 30 cm)
Comparative bibliography:
Bert W. Meyer, Il disegno veneziano 1580-1650, Ricostruzioni storico-artistiche, Florence, 2017, Chap.20, Pietro Malombra, pp. 279-306
We are grateful to Professors Bert W. Meyer (Il disegno veneziano 1580-1650, Ricostruzioni storico-artistiche, Florence, 2017) and Andrea Piai ("Pietro Malombra: morali inventioni, mitologie, temi sacri", Musica & Figura, Venice, 2022, pp. 35-50) for confirming the autograph nature of our sheet.
A rediscovered work by a rare artist
Initially anonymous, we have been able to attribute the present drawing with certainty to Pietro Malombra. This attribution has been confirmed by Professor Bert W. Meyer and Andrea Piai, who suggests dating our sheet to around 1586–1590.
Pietro Malombra was mentioned by the important art theorist Marco Boschini (1602-1681) as having been part of a "brotherhood" of seven artists1, united around the figure of Palma the Younger (1544-1628) and linked by a similar style, strongly marked by the colouring of the Venetian masters of the 16thcentury.
Born in Venice in 1556, he was the son of Bartolomeo, a clerk in the Ducal Chancellery, and Caterina Vasti. According to Carlo Ridolfi (1595-1658), he spent his youth working for his father and did not enter the world of painting until much later, when he joined the studio of Giuseppe Porta, known as "il Salviati".
Although the vast majority of his works have now disappeared, we can confirm from ancient texts2 that he was a very important artist for the whole of the Serenissima. In particular, he created numerous church altars and history paintings for the decor of the Doge's Palace. As far as his graphic work is concerned, only forty or so known sheets remain3, most of which are kept in the drawing rooms of European and American museums. rt
1 Marco Boschini, Breve istruzione… en Boschini, 1674, éd. A. PALLUCCHINI 1966, p. 740-742. The seven artists named are Palma il Giovane, Leonardo Corona, Andrea Vicentino, Sante Peranda, Antonio Foler, Pietro Malombra and Girolamo Pilotti.
2 Among others, Carlo Ridolfi, Maraviglie dell'arte, 1648
3Bert W. Meijer, Il disegno veneziano 1580-1650, Ricostruzioni storico-artistiche, Florence, 2017, p.280
A violent subject treated with terribilità
Recounted in the Gospel according to Matthew, the massacre of the innocents refers to the killing of all the children under the age of two in the Bethlehem region, ordered by King Herod who feared the advent of a new king of the Jews at the time of Christ's birth.
Pietro Malombra opted for a formal and narrative solution that was atypical for the period: he represented the three temporalities of the scene in a single composition. It is in fact:
● Herod ordering the massacre, mounted on his throne in the top left of the composition
● The massacre itself
● The aftermath of the massacre, with the Holy Family fleeing to Egypt, visible in the background of the composition
Apart from this originality, the great strength of our sheet lies in its vigorous treatment, illustrating all the violence and confusion of the scene. The liveliness of the pen combined with the strong chiaroscuro rendered by a high-contrast wash accentuate the drama of the struggle: the sinister melee appears as a tangle of contorted bodies in which the executioners and victims are sometimes difficult to distinguish.
There is no doubt that Pietro Malombra has reinterpreted the formal solutions used by Tintoretto in his famous painting of the Scuola Grande di San Rocco (ills. 1 and 2). These borrowings misled a former collector who attributed our drawing to the great Venetian master and annotated it "tintoretto" in the lower left-hand corner.
(ill. 1) Tintoretto, The Massacre of the innocents (Venice, Scuola Grande di San Rocco)
(ill. 2) our sheet confronted to Tintoretto (details)
Works to compare with ours
Our work has been attributed to Pietro Malombra thanks to numerous stylistic similarities it shares with known sheets from his corpus, particularly the highly characteristic physiognomies (ill. 3) and the strong chiaroscuro achieved through a contrasting wash (ill. 4).
(ill. 3) Rape of a Young Woman (Civic Museum of Bassano) and The Martyrdom of Saint Lucy (private collection) compared with our sheet (details)
(ill. 4) Young Man Carrying a Bag (Royal Library of Turin), Descent from the Cross (private collection), and Study of Wrestling Couples (Louvre Museum)
Fernão GOMES
Alburquerque, 1548 - Lisbon, 1612
The dispute between the Doctors of the Church
Pen and brown ink, brown wash - 10 7/16 x 15 1/4 in. (26.5 x 38.8 cm)
A rare example of Portuguese Mannerism reattributed to Fernão Gomes
Acquired as anonymous, we have been able to attribute our drawing with certainty to Fernão Gomes, thanks to the striking graphic similarities it shares with a sheet (ill. 1) in the Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga in Lisbon. This drawing, signed and dated 1599, is a preparation for the Great Ascension of Christ, which unfortunately disappeared, like most of his work, following the Lisbon earthquake of 1755. Our artist, born in Albuquerque in Castile, trained in Delft with Anthony Blocklandt (1533-1583) before settling permanently in Lisbon in 1573, where he met with great success: in 1594, he was appointed "oil painter to his majesty" by Philip II of Spain (1527-1598)1
By comparing the two drawings, we can clearly attribute our sheet to Fernão Gomes (and not Toussaint Dubreuil, as suggested by an inscription on the back of the sheet), since their stylistic characteristics are so similar. Of particular note are the highly stylised faces (ill. 2), with exaggeratedly elongated limbs and outré poses and attitudes, and the excessively muscular and deformed hands, with the thumb and little finger spread impossibly far apart. It is also worth noting that the figure of the apostle raising his arm (on the right of the image on the left of ill. 2) is the same as that of the doctor pointing to a Bible (central image of ill. 2). These characteristics make our drawing a very rare example of late Mannerism in Lisbon, a synthesis of innovations from Italy, their reinterpretation by the Nordic countries and the initial aesthetic effects of the Counter-Reformation fostered by Spanish rule.
1 Vitor Serrão, “Fernão Gomes, Pintor maneirista de bravo talento” in Revistas Oceanos, no.1, June 1989, p. 27
(ill. 1) Fernão Gomes, The Ascension of Christ (Lisbon, Museu Nacional de Arte Antiga)
(ill. 2) Comparison of the figures in the two drawings (details)
A subject stemming from the Counter-Reformation
The subject of our drawing, the dispute between the Doctors of the Church, is a direct result of this reactionary movement on the part of the Church: faced with the emergence of Protestantism, the aim is to re-establish the correct interpretation of the Bible. An assembly of wise men and erudits are busy with this task, debating ardently over open books. The robustness and heavy drapery of the figures (ill. 3) are directly reminiscent of the prophets in the niches of the Sistine Chapel. Their highly expressive postures convey a stormy, passionate discussion.
At the top of the central group (detail opposite), an angel, leaning over one of the doctors, seems to be guiding him in his exegesis. Overhead, a frightening figure with a skull and crossbones stalks towards the group, tongue out, pointing at another open book. Perhaps this evil apparition is an allegory of the Protestant heresy trying to mislead the faithful of the Church.
Giovanni FEDINI
Florence, 1539-1600
Annunciation
Circa 1571
Pen and wash in brown ink - 10 1/8 x 7 7/8 in. (25,8 x 20 cm)
Watermark: five-pointed star within a circle topped with a Latin cross (close to Briquet 6089)
General bibliography:
Alessandro Nesi, Due “minorissimi” dello Studiolo: Francesco Coscia e Giovanni Fedini, Florence, 2023
We thank Professor Alessandro Nesi for attributing our drawing to Giovanni Fedini and for writing this note. An art historian specializing in Florentine Mannerism, he has published several works on this artist. Our drawing will soon be published in one of his forthcoming books.
A "disegno alla macchia", characteristic of Florentine Mannerism
The extremely lively execution of the present drawing, the synthesis of forms it presents, as well as its reference to an engraving published in 1571, immediately guide us towards a specific pictorial environment, period, and artist. The engraving in question is a famous Annunciation, created in 1571 by the Flemish engraver Cornelis Cort (1533–1578), after a fresco by Federico Zuccari (1539–1609), executed between 1566 and 1567 in the Jesuit church of Santa Maria Annunziata at the Collegio Romano in Rome. Only a fragment of the fresco remains today, depicting the bust of the Virgin.
The author of our drawing reproduces the Virgin's figure from the engraving (ill. 1): kneeling on the left near the lectern, shown in profile, with her left hand on her chest and her head inclined. However, the right arm extends along the body, rather than being foreshortened as seen in both the original mural fragment and the engraving.
(ill. 1) Cornelis Cort after Federico Zuccaro, Annunciation (London, British Museum)
In contrast, the figure of the Archangel Gabriel is an original creation. The excessively slender and elongated body, as well as the geometric stylization of the face and clothing details, indicate that the author of this drawing is Giovanni Fedini, one of the artists registered with the Florentine Accademia delle Arti del Disegno.
Between 1570 and 1572, Giorgio Vasari and Vincenzo Borghini enlisted Fedini to help decorate the Studiolo of Prince Francesco de' Medici in the Palazzo Vecchio in Florence. For this project, Fedini created the oval painting depicting the mythological episode The Ring of Polycrates of Samos (ill. 2), where figures in rigid poses and stylized forms already provide points of comparison with the drawing under analysis.
However, the closest comparisons can be drawn with the monochrome fresco (ill. 3) that the artist executed for the Painters' Chapel in the Church of the Santissima Annunziata, also in Florence, where the academy members gathered and were buried. This fresco, representing The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek, documented as completed in October 1570, displays the same stylistic traits found in our Annunciation (ill. 4). The figures appear schematic, excessively elongated and emaciated, with ghostly, barely outlined faces, like that of the archangel. The garments feature sharply defined folds outlined with dark contours, enhanced with quick, luminous touches. The stylistic identity is thus undeniable, especially evident in these monochrome works but also recognizable in other polychrome works I have recently attributed to Fedini through recent research.
In both the drawing and the fresco, the artist employs a technique known in 16th-century Florence as alla macchia, meaning rapid, synthetic, and spontaneous execution, yet confident and controlled. This style reflects not a lack of skill, but the “sprezzatura” typical of Mannerism—the ability to create a personal style through complex and challenging figurative syntheses, executed with apparent ease.
Dated to around 1571, this Annunciation drawing is thus a rare and valuable work, as Fedini’s known corpus is exceedingly limited. This scarcity is likely due to the fact that the artist combined his work as a painter with that of a writer. In 1583, he authored a play titled Le due Persilie, performed that same year in Florence with music by the renowned Medici court composer Jacopo Peri.
(ill. 2) Giovanni Fedini, L’Anneau de Polycrate de Samos (Florence, Palazzo Vecchio)
and our sheet (details)
(translated from Italian by us)
(ill. 3) Giovanni Fedini, The Meeting of Abraham and Melchizedek (Florence, church of Santissima Annunziata)
Alessandro Nesi
(ill. 4) Comparison between the Santissima Annunziata fresco
The MASTER of MARTYRDOMS active in Naples in the first half of the 17th century
The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence
Oil on canvas - 27 5/32 x 30 5/16 in. (62.5 x 76 cm)
Comparative bibliography:
Pierluigi Leone de Castris, “Maestro dei martiri”, in Il Barocco a Lecce e nel Salento, exhibition catalogue edited by A. Cassiano, Lecce, 1995, p. 64
Giuseppe Porzio, “Martirio di San Stefano”, in Il Museo Diocesano di Napoli. Percorsi di fede e arte, catalogue edited by Pierluigi Leone de Castris, Naples, 2008, pp. 134-135, no. 42
We would like to warmly thank Professor Pierluigi Leone De Castris for confirming the attribution of this painting. He is an art historian and a leading specialist in Neapolitan painting, to whom we owe the first studies on our artist.
A rediscovered work by a rare artist, yet to be fully explored
Our painting is a discovery: acquired as anonymous work, we were able to trace it back to the Master of Martyrdoms with certainty, thanks to the help of Professor Pierluigi Leone de Castris, the first person to have studied this Neapolitan artist, who was active in the first half of the 17th century.
His known body of work, which is very limited, consists mainly of scenes of martyrdom, from which he takes his conventional name. Although this master has yet to be identified, we do know that he belongs to the same group of artists as Filippo d'Angeli (1600-1660), François de Nomé known as Monsù Desiderio (circa 1593 - after 1623) (ill. 1) and Cornelio Brusco (1606-1620), whose pupil he undoubtedly was1. He shares many stylistic similarities with them: a certain taste for tenebrism, a lively touch that is often visible and figures with exaggeratedly elongated proportions, still marked by mannerism.
rt
(ill. 1) François de Nomé, Fantastic architectural view (Metz, Cour d’or Museum)
1de Castris, 1995, p. 64.
A violent subject treated with vigour
In 258, the deacon Lorenzo of Rome was martyred for having distributed to the poor the riches of the Church coveted by the emperor Valerian. Sentenced by the Prefect of Rome to burn for a long time on a grill, Saint Lawrence miraculously remained unaffected by pain. According to Jacobus de Voragine, he even taunted his executioner by saying: "Well, you've roasted me enough on this side; turn me over to the other side, after which I'll be done to perfection!”2.
This astonishing painting, with its spirited treatment, characterised by a lively brushwork applied in visible, nervous strokes, captures all the violence of the subject. The artist depicts the scene at its climax: on the point of succumbing, Lorenzo, depicted in a striking foreshortening and bathed in violent chiaroscuro, reaches up to heaven to receive the crown and palm of martyrdom from two intertwined angels.
His executioners, busy and contorted around the tortured saint, while other scattered groups of soldiers frame the scene. The ensemble is completed by worrying figures in togas, whose almost ghostly presence is barely suggested by a few lively brushstrokes (a process found in many of François de Nomé's paintings). At the top left of the composition, the Prefect, accompanied by a councillor, orders the punishment. He is surmounted by a large red curtain to which the horseman's standard responds; this theatrical effect reinforces the dramatism of the martyrdom.
Related works
Although the majority of the Master of Martyrdoms’ body of work has yet to be discovered, his few known works have enabled us to attribute our painting to him with certainty, given his distinctive and easily identifiable stylistic characteristics.
Two paintings in particular stand out: the first (ill. 2) from the Diocesan Museum of Naples, published in 20083, and the second (ill. 3), from a private collection, also a martyrdom of Saint Lawrence, whose composition is very similar to our own.
We can easily recognise the characteristics of the Master of Martyrdoms that are present in our work. These include a nervous, visible brushstroke, violent lighting effects and very pronounced physiognomies, with exaggeratedly elongated arms and hands resembling crab claws; characteristics that would later be found in a number of Neapolitan masters, such as Carlo Coppola (documented between 1653 and 1665) and Domenico Gargiulo, known as Micco Spadaro (1610-1675).
2 Jacobus de Voragine, The Golden Legend (1221-1226), translation by T. de Wyzewa, Paris, Perrin et Cie, 1910, p. 423
3 Giuseppe Porzio, In Il Museo Diocesano di Napoli. Percorsi di fede e arte, catalogue edited by Pierluigi Leone de Castris, Naples 2008, pp. 134-135, no. 42
Jacques STELLA
Lyon, 1596 - Paris, 1657
Saint Paul martyr
Pen and brown ink, grey wash - 6 1/5 x 5 1/8 in. (15.3 x 13 cm)
Provenance:
Unidentified collection from the second half of the 18th century (initialled L. 2956, lower right of the mount)
Private collection from Paris, acquired at public sale in Toulouse on 4 June 1996
General Bibliography:
Jacques Thuillier, Jacques Stella, Paris, 2006
A refined drawing, emblematic of Stella's late style
The artist depicts Saint Paul receiving the crown and palm of martyrdom from a putto. Easily identifiable by his traditional attributes (his legionary uniform and his sword, the instrument of his martyrdom), the saint occupies almost the entire composition. In the background, we can make out an antique décor that refers explicitly to Rome in the 1st century, the place of his beheading. His face, irradiated by a halo of divine light, and his right hand, resting on his chest, express a mixture of
restrained ecstasy and appeasement: he is embracing his condition as a martyr and is ready to enter the celestial kingdom.
Exuding great freshness, our sheet is exemplary of Jacques Stella's style: a synthesis of Poussinesque rigour and Italian softness. It should be noted that it was transferred with a stylus, a common technique at the time for transferring a drawing to another medium (engraving or painting).
Although it has not been possible to find the final work, from a stylistic point of view we can date our drawing to the years 1645-1655, the period of the large suite of "The Life of the Virgin". Our work is very similar to the preparatory drawings for this suite (ill. 1 for example), characterised by an assured line, elegant light and a very pronounced male physiognomy, similar to our Saint Paul.
(ill. 1) Jacques Stella, Flight to Egypt (New York, Metropolitan Museum)
Jacques Stella, painter to Louis XIII
An eminent painter of the French Grand Siècle, Jacques Stella came from an illustrious family of artists from Lyon. After training in his hometown, about which little is known, he moved to Florence from 1616 to 1621, where he worked for the court of Cosimo II de' Medici.
He then moved to Rome from 1622 to 1634. It was during this period that he really came of age as a painter and achieved his first major successes. He quickly became part of the Roman artistic milieu and rubbed shoulders with many of the greatest artists of his time. These included Simon Vouet, Claude Vignon, Artemisia Gentileschi, Pierre de Cortone, Bernini and Nicolas Poussin, with whom he became close friends. He carried out commissions for the most prestigious patrons, including Cardinal Scipio Borghese and Pope Urban VIII. Among Stella's works from this period is Christ on the Cross and Saint Magdalene, now in the Louvre (ill. 2), which reflects the intersecting influences of the vibrant artistic scene of Rome at the time, between Caravaggism, late Mannerism and Bolognese Classicism.
In 1634, he returned to Lyon and then moved to Paris where, with the help of Richelieu, he entered the service of Louis XIII, who appointed him “painter to the king” in 1635. This title gave him access to accommodation in the Louvre galleries and the payment of an annual pension.
During these French years, he enjoyed a degree of success, thanks in particular to his paintings on precious supports (alabaster, lapis lazuli, onyx…) and his participation in a number of prestigious decorative projects (the chapel at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, the palace of Richelieu…). He then developed a more personal style, strongly influenced by Poussin, and took part in the rise of Atticism in the years 1640-1660.
(ill. 2) Jacques Stella, Christ on the Cross and Saint Magdalene (Paris, Louvre Museum)
Guillaume COURTOIS, called IL BORGOGNONE
Saint-Hippolyte, 1628 - Rome, 1679
The Conversion of Saint Paul
Brown wash over black chalk - 10 3/4 x 8 in. (27.5 x 20.3 cm)
Comparative bibliography:
Dieter Graf, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Die Handzeichnungen von Guglielmo Cortese und Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Vol. II, Düsseldorf, 1976, pp. 64-65
A lively, tumultuous drawing, typical of Roman Baroque
The conversion of Saint Paul is recounted in the New Testament book of the Acts of the Apostles. On his way to Damascus, the saint, who was still a legionnaire and persecutor of the first Christians, saw Christ appear to him in the form of light. He immediately fell from his horse and was struck blind. Now converted, he was baptised three days later by Saint Ananias, who restored his sight. This story was often depicted by Baroque artists who, in keeping with the precepts of the Counter-Reformation, painted a number of edifying biblical stories that exalted the Catholic faith.
Guillaume Courtois draws the scene at its climax: dazzled by the divine light, Paul, unconscious, has just fallen from his still rearing horse. While one of his comrades tries to come to his aid, the other legionnaires are shaking in confusion, frightened by the miracle. The liveliness of the brushwork combined with the strong chiaroscuro rendered by a high-contrast wash accentuates the dramatism of the whole. The witnesses to the miracle are treated as a seething mass at the foot of which lies the figure of the saint, bathed in a halo of light
In addition to the great vigour of the treatment, the technique used is rare. First of all, Il Borgognone very quickly traced the broad outlines of his composition in black chalk, over which he then applied the ink with a brush, in a gesture similar to that of a painter. Note that only the figure of Christ, at the top left of our sheet, has not been covered in ink. This process makes his presence barely palpable, reinforcing the miraculous nature of his appearance.
Guillaume Courtois, Roman painter
Like his older brother, the battle painter Jacques Courtois (1621-1671), Guillaume was born in Saint-Hippolyte, a town then belonging to the county of Burgundy. He spent his entire career in Rome, where he moved with his family as a child, fleeing the plague and the Ten Years' War.
He trained in the workshop of Pietro da Cortona (1597-1669), whose influence had a profound effect on his style. It was in a "Cortonesque, animated and sonorous" manner1 that Guillaume Courtois,
1 Francesco Alberto Salvagnini, Le pitture di Guglielmo Courtois e la loro casa in Piazza di Spagna, Rome, 1937
under the direction of Bernini (1598-1680), produced a number of decorations for churches and palaces built during the pontificate of Alexander VII Chigi (1599-1667).
Among the most emblematic examples are the Crucifixion of Saint Andrew for the church of Saint Andrew in the Quirinal (ill. 1), The Battle of Joshua in the gallery of the Palazzo del Quirinale and his monumental paintings, produced in collaboration with Gaspard Dughet (1625-1675), for the "Prince's Room" in the Palazzo Doria-Pamphilj.
Although he was greatly influenced by the manner of his master, he managed to develop his own style, which was much appreciated by his contemporaries. His brilliantly coloured and sharply contrasted paintings, served up by a broad brushstroke and delicious materials, as well as his drawings, many of which until recently were attributed to Giovanni Lanfranco2 (1592-1647), make him, perhaps before Ciro Ferri (1634-1689) and Lazzaro Baldi (1624-1703), one of Peter of Cortona's most brilliant pupils.
(ill. 1) Guillaume Courtois, The Crucifixion of Saint Andrew framed by the decoration by Bernini (Rome, church of Saint Andrew on the Quirinal)
2 Gaspard Dughet painted the landscapes and Guillaume Courtois the figures.
3 Dieter Graf, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Die Handzeichnungen von Guglielmo Cortese und Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Düsseldorf, 1976
Guillaume COURTOIS, called IL BORGOGNONE
Saint-Hippolyte, 1628 - Rome, 1679
Venus, Mars and Adonis
Oil on canvas - 27 5/32 x 30 5/16 in. (69 x 77 cm)
Provenance:
New York, Sotheby's, 7 April 1989, lot no. 89 Milan, Finarte, 25 novembre 1998, lot no. 50
Bibliography:
Valeria Di Giuseppe Di Paolo, “Guillaume Courtois nel cantiere di Nettuno e lo stile del Sesto Decennio”, in Storia dell'Arte, no. 137/138, Rome, 2014, pp. 110-117 (reproduced in figure 7)
A work of crossed influences with strongly contrasting treatment
This seductive painting depicts the very last moments of Adonis: Mars, drunk with rage and jealousy, is about to slaughter the sleeping ephebe, while Venus tries in vain to stop him. This episode is recounted in Ovid's Metamorphoses. When the god of war learns of the love between his official lover and Adonis, he goes into a mad fury and transforms himself into a boar to kill his young rival who has gone hunting. Let's note a certain liberty taken by the painter with regard to the myth; here, there is no question of metamorphosis: Mars is about to run Adonis through with his sword.
Guillaume Courtois borrows the group of Venus and Mars from a fresco by Giulio Romano (c. 1492-1546) in the Palazzo Te (ill. 1), which he reinterprets within a vast landscape context, heavily influenced by his years of collaboration with Pier Francesco Mola (1612-1666) and Gaspard Dughet (1625-1675). The figure of Adonis, on the other hand, is an invention of Il Borgognone, for which a preparatory study is preserved in the Fine Arts and Archaeology Museum of Besançon (ill. 2).1
(ill. 1) fresco from the Chamber of Psyche (Mantua, Palazzo Té) confronted with our painting (details)
It is worth noting that the final figure features a variation in the position of the left arm compared to the preparatory drawing; the artist ultimately favoured a pose similar to that of the Barberini Faun, which had been discovered not long before.
Guillaume Courtois appropriates these cross influences (antiquity and mannerism), reworking them in light of the innovations of his time, and delivers a highly contrasted work, balancing violence and tenderness. On one hand, the group of Venus and Mars conveys all the drama of the scene: the tumult of their struggle is rendered through the turbulent draperies and plume as well as the tense contortion of the god's figure. On the other hand, the relatively small characters are depicted in an Arcadian nature that exudes great serenity. In this setting, the figure of Adonis serves as a perfect foil to the first group: in a languid pose, with his bare shoulder and a puppy nestled against him, he ignores his dog’s warning and sleeps peacefully.
A testament to the early Borgognone’s style, to be compared with known works
Professor Valeria Di Giuseppe Di Paolo situates our painting in the 1650s2, a period during which Guillaume Courtois was engaged in painting mythological subjects for his first patron, Camillo Pamphili, the famous nephew of Pope Innocent X, both in his Roman palace in Piazza Navona and in his residence in Valmontone.
Our work can also be related to two paintings from the Lemme collection, preserved in Rome at the Palazzo Chigi (ills. 3 and 4). Attributed to Guillaume Courtois by Erich Schleier, these two paintings are also dated by Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò to around the 1650s3
2 Ibid., p. 117
3 Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, in Il Seicento e Settecento Romano nella Collezione Lemme, exhibition catalogue, Rome, 1998, pp. 130-131
Giovanni Battista GAULLI, dit IL BACICCIO
Genova, 1639 - Rome, 1709
The Virgin and Child appearing to Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi (recto)
Study of drapery (verso)
Circa 1707
Pen and brown ink and brown wash over black chalk - 13 7/16 x 9 13/16 in. (34.1 x 25 cm)
Provenance:
Sotheby's London 5 July 2000, lot 130
Bibliography:
Francesco Petrucci (ed.), Pittura barocca romana, dal Cavalier d'Arpino a Fratel Pozzo; La collezione Fagiolo, Milan 1999, p.70 (reproduced)
Comparative bibliography:
H. Macandrew, D. Graf, "Baciccio's Later Drawings: A re-discovered group acquired by the Ashmolean Museum", Master Drawings, X, 3, autumn 1972, pp. 231-259 ; Dieter Graf, Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, Die Handzeichnungen von Guglielmo Cortese und Giovanni Battista Gaulli, Vol. II, Düsseldorf 1976, pp. 148-343
A drawing typical of Baciccio's late graphic work
This sheet, with its refined, highly finished workmanship, is perfectly representative of the late graphic work of Giovanni Battista Gaulli, called Baciccio. Originally from Genoa, he moved to Rome in 1657, where he worked with Bernini (1598-1680). Strongly influenced by the master's style, he
Francesco Petrucci1 proposes to compare our sheet with the preparatory drawing for the altarpiece The Virgin and Child Appearing to Saint Anthony of Padua (ill. 2), painted in 17072.
1 Francesco Petrucci (ed.), Pittura barocca romana, dal Cavalier d’Arpino a Fratel Pozzo ; La collezione Fagiolo, Milan, 1999, p.70
2 Robert Enggass, The Painting of Baciccio, Giovanni Battista Gaulli, 1639-1709, Pennsylvania, 1964, pp. 127-128. Today housed in the church of Monte Calvario in Imperia, the altarpiece was originally in the church of the SS. Annunziata in Porto San Maurizio, which was demolished by an earthquake in 1887. It was painted in Rome and Gaulli was paid for the commission in July 1707.
(ill 1) Il Baciccio, The Virgin and Child appearing to Saint Anthony of Padua (private collection) quickly became one of the city's most prominent painters and established himself as a major player in the great Roman Baroque.The ceiling of the nave of the Church of Gesù, which he painted between 1672 and 1683, is undoubtedly his greatest masterpiece, and is emblematic of the great decorations of the late 17th century in Italy.
attributes are present: There is no gold ring, no crown of thorns, no skull, no book, no lily, no rosary, no stigmata. What's more, the saint in our drawing wears the monastic scapular, typical of Carmelites, whereas Saint Catherine of Siena is a Dominican.
We therefore hypothesise that our sheet depicts Mary Magdalene de' Pazzi, a Florentine Carmelite nun from the late 16 century who was often portrayed by Baroque painters. Indeed, the Sacred Heart that the nun receives from the Virgin, through the intercession of an angel, is one of the attributes of this saint, canonised in 1669 by Pope Clement IX Rospigliosi.
Niccolò RICCIOLINI
Rome, 1687-1772
Mosaic
projects for Saint Peter's in Rome
The seraph purifies the prophet Isaiah's lips with fire Elijah brings down fire on Ahaziah's men
Circa 1730
Pen, brown ink and grey wash - each drawing: 11 x 8 1/2 in. (27.9 x 21.5 cm)
The drawings are annotated in pen under each scene:
“Iasi : 6.6. - Il Serafino che col fuoco celeste purga le labbra del Profeta Isaia.”
“2. Reg : Cap. 18. - Elia che fà scendere il fuoco dal cielo sopra la Vittima alla presenza del popolo”
We would like to thank Professor Vittorio Casale, a specialist in the Roman Baroque who has published several works on Ricciolini, for his help in compiling this notice.
Two rare subjects
Both subjects are taken from the Old Testament. The first (left sheet) (Isaiah, 6) recounts an episode in the life of the prophet Isaiah. Complaining of having unclean lips, he was healed by a seraph who touched him with a burning firebrand. The angel said: "Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away and your sin atoned for". Note the liberty taken by the artist in depicting the seraph with two wings instead of the usual six.
The second (right sheet) (Kings, II, 1) recounts an episode in the life of Elijah. The prophet is about to bring down divine fire on the soldiers that the impious king Ahaziah has sent to meet him. Our drawing illustrates the moment before the punishment: the angel, summoned by Elijah, points the sacred fire at an altar and points to the sky from which it will fall. At the bottom right of the composition, we can see the soldiers who, having understood their doom, implore God's forgiveness in vain.
Modelli for mosaics at St Peter's in Rome
The two sheets are part of the same ensemble. The compositions are in counterpart, with the human figures in the centre, kneeling on a massive base, while the angels close off the upper part. The two scenes are also linked iconographically. They represent two divine interventions linked to fire: the fire of healing on the left and the fire of punishment on the right.
Our drawings are clearly modelli for the two sides of a lunette framing a central window. They can be compared with a sheet by the artist in the same format, published by Vittorio Casale1, which was preparatory to the mosaic for a lunette in the choir chapel of Saint Peter's in Rome (ill. 1). The —-------
relationship between our sheets and the one in New York is obvious from the identical format (they have the same indentation in the middle of the rectilinear side) and style. We can therefore hypothesise that our drawings are also projects for mosaics for a chapel in Saint Peter's in Rome, which were never realised.
(ill. 1) Mosaics of the choir chapel of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, Vatican, based on designs by Niccolò Ricciolini, one of which is based on a drawing by the artist
Two drawings typical of Niccolò Ricciolini's early style
Dating from the third decade of the 18th century, our drawings belong to the first phase of the artist's activity, strongly influenced by the lessons of his father Michelangelo (1654-1715), with whom he collaborated until his death. They used lurid, moving effects reminiscent of Giacinto Brandi (1621-1691), diluted by chiaroscuro in the style of Francesco Trevisani (1656-1746) (to whom the artist was related, having married his niece, Laura, in 1717). It was during this period that Niccolò Ricciolini supplied the cartoons for the mosaics at Saint Peter's in Rome.
While Ricciolini's later work shows a certain attention to the proto-Neoclassical reforms under the influence of Agostino Masucci (1690-1758), our two drawings are perfectly representative examples of his early style, faithful to the canons of the Roman barocchetto. Effectively underlined by frequent pen strokes and brought to life by the contrast between areas of shadow and half-light rendered by a subtly applied wash, the figures are skilfully articulated in constrained spaces. The whole appears as a kind of fluid, moving magma from which wings, clothes and bodies emerge with force. This remarkable quality helps to restore Ricciolini as a draughtsman to his rightful place in the late Roman Baroque.
1 Vittorio Casale, “La dinastia dei pittori Ricciolini,” in Mario Di Giampaolo (ed.), Dal disegno all’opera compiuta, proceedings of the international conference held in Torgiano in 1987, Perugia, 1992, pp. 171–191, esp. p. 189, fig. 28.
The drawing illustrates the biblical story of King Uzziah who, having dared to enter the temple to burn incense for God (a privilege reserved for priests), was lectured by Azariah and then contracted leprosy as divine punishment. Ricciolini's drawing for the other mosaic, also for the same chapel, has not yet reached us. All three drawings (ours and the one in New York) have the same cruciform mark on the straight side, which can be explained by the fact that they come from the same collection.
For Niccolò Ricciolini, see also M.B. Guerrieri Borsoi, "Contributi allo studio di Nicolò Ricciolini", Bollettino d'Arte, 50-51, 1988, pp. 161-185.
