legs of the leader framing the head of the man behind, are painted in a manner derived ultimately from an engraving of The Entombment after Andrea Mantegna (ca. 1431– 1506). However, Maratti’s vision of this scene is more dynamic than his master’s; the striking and bold poses of the figures create strong animated diagonals that impart a vigorous energy to this composition.
Fig. 1. Andrea Sacchi, Saint Andrew Adoring the Cross of his Martyrdom, 1633–34, 210 x 140 cm., Rome, Basilica di San Pietro, Città del Vaticano.
The earliest known version of Maratti’s The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew is in the Bob Jones University Collection, Greenville (fig. 2) and was historically considered to be that formerly in the collection of the Cardinal Giuseppe Renato Imperiali (1651–1737). This painting was later engraved by a pupil of Maratti, J. J. Frey (1681–1752) (fig. 4), who came to the artist’s studio in about 1709. It seems that the Bob Jones painting was a free version of Sacchi’s altarpiece and probably dates from Maratti’s early career, ca. 1656–60, when he was still under the influence of his master. One preparatory drawing for the Bob Jones painting includes studies for Maratti’s Adoration of the Kings, painted in 1656 for the church of San Marco, Rome. This suggests that a date of ca. 1656 for the artist’s Martyrdom of Saint Andrew. The present picture and the Bob Jones
Fig. 2. Carlo Maratti, The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew, ca. 1656, 120.6 x 157.7 cm., Greenville, Museum & Gallery at Bob Jones University.
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Fig. 3. Guido Reni, Saint Andrew Brought to the Temple, 1608, fresco, Rome, Oratorio di Sant’ Andrea al Celio. Fig. 4. Jakob Frey the Elder after Carlo Maratti, The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew, San Francisco, Fine Arts Museum of San Francisco.
version are the most similar, in size and format, of all of Maratti’s versions of The Martyrdom of Saint Andrew. On sheets of studies for the Bob Jones picture, there also appear sketches that relate solely to the present painting, which confirms Maratti’s hand in both works and also strengthens the theory that they were painted around the same time. One drawing, now in the Kunstmuseum in Düsseldorf (fig. 5, overleaf), includes studies for the figure of the saint, the left hand of the executioner, and the figure climbing the hill behind them. On the verso of this sheet (fig. 6, overleaf) are studies for arms and legs of Saint Andrew as well as four drawings of the younger female spectator from the Wemyss painting. 27