Italian Master Drawings, Leonardo to Canaletto (Art Ebook).pdf

7/25/2019 Italian Master Drawings, Leonardo to Canaletto (Art Ebook).pdf

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ITALIAN

MASTER

DRAWING

From

The

British

Royal Collection


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ITALIAN

MASTER DRAWINGS

From

The

British

Royal

Collection


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Giovanni

Bellini

(cat.


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ITALIAN

MASTER

DRAWINGS

Leonardo

to

Canaletto

From

The British

Royal

Collection

JANE

ROBERTS

Curator

of

the

Print

Room

The

Royal

Library,

Windsor

Castle

COLLINS

HARVILL

8

Grafton

Street,

London

Wl

1987

National

Gallery

ofArt,

Washington

The Fine

Arts

Museums

ofSan

Francisco

The

Art

Institute of

Chicago


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Front cover illustration:

Figure

in

Masquerade

Costume

by

Leonardo da Vinci (cat.

14)

Back

cover

illustration:

The corner

of

the Ducal

Palace

looking towards S.

Giorgio

Maggiore by

Canaletto

(cat.

58)

EXHIBITION CALENDAR

National

Gallery of Art, Washington: 10May-26July 1987

The

Fine

Arts Museums of San Francisco: 8 August-25 October

1987

The Art

Institute

of Chicago: 10 November

1987-26

January 1988

This exhibition is supported

by

an indemnity from the Federal Council

on

the Arts

and the

Humanities

Portions of this

catalogue

were

first

published in Master Drawings

in the Royal Collection,

the catalogue of the

exhibition

at

The

Queen's Gallery,

Buckingham Palace

from April

1986

William

Collins

Sons and

Co.

Ltd

London

Glasgow

Sydney

Auckland

Toronto

Johannesburg

First

published

by Collins Harvill

1987

)

Her

Majesty

Queen Elizabeth

II

1986,

1987

All rights

reserved

ISBN

00 272338 7

Illustrations

originated

by

Gilchrist

Bros

Ltd, Leeds

Photoset

in Linotron

Meridien

by

Rowland

Phototypesetting

Ltd,

Bury

St

Edmunds,

Suffolk

Printed

and

bound

in

Great

Britain

by

William

Collins

Sons

and

Co.

Ltd,

Glasgow


7/156

CONTENTS

Foreword

7

Preface

9

Acknowledgements

10

Introduction

1

List

of Works Referred

to

in

Abbreviated

Form

20

CATALOGUE

21

An Appendix

concerning Watermarks

143

Index

of

Artists

149


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FOREWORD

British

Royal

Collection includes superlative

works of

in numerous

areas,

but

is

perhaps

most widely known

its

old

master drawings. The thirty thousand old

master

modern

drawings,

housed in the

Royal

Library

at

Castle, have been

gathered

by many monarchs

more than

three

centuries.

The

collection

is

especi-

famous

for its Italian drawings. These

include

an

group

of

six

hundred

Leonardos

and

concen-

of the work of

other great

draughtsmen as

well

as

sheets chosen

according

to

the changing

tastes

and

of the Royal Family.

Over

the

years,

skilful and

advisers

to

the

Crown have

assisted with

the

of

individual

drawings and

entire collections.

We

have long dreamt

of showing a

survey

exhibition

from

the

extraordinary

treasures across the cen-

in the

Windsor

collection,

one which

would

reveal

beautiful

works

by many different

artists

to be

found

Talks between Andrew

Robison,

Curator of Prints

Drawings

at the National Gallery of

Art, and

Jane

Curator

of

the

Print

Room

a't

Windsor

Castle,

years

ago,

and

were

joined

and

enthusiastically

upported

by

Oliver Everett,

the

Librarian

at

Windsor.

Mrs

oberts's

1986-1987

exhibition

of

Master Drawings in

the Royal Collection, at the Queen's Gallery in

London,

provided the

final occasion to

bring

our plans f

Agreeing

that

the

Italian

old master

drawings w

strongest

and most

comprehensive

component

Royal

Collection, Dr Robison and Mrs

Roberts

cho

one works

to

show

a

selection from

the

finest s

Windsor.

This exhibition,

opening with intense and

studies

of

the

Florentine

and

Venetian

Renai

ranging

through great examples of

Mannerism

Baroque,

concludes

with representatives from Wi

marvellous groups of

Piazzetta and

Canaletto.

not

a

pedantic survey,

it nonetheless

includes

the

great

masters

of

Italian

draughtsmanship, w

shown

in works of power

and

superlative quality.

For

her gracious

generosity in

lending

such a

ordinary selection

of

works we are most of all ind

Her

Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II.

We

deeply

apprec

collegial

friendship and

help

from Mrs Roberts

Everett, as

well

as

Julia

Baxter, Exhibitions Offic

have

been

wonderful

in

supporting

the

exhibitio

arranging

the

details

of

the

loan. Mrs

Roberts

kindly revised

her

Master Drawings

catalogue to ac

date

the

drawings

shown for the first

time in

Amer

J.

CARTER

BROWN

Director

National

Gallery

of

Art

IAN

McKIBBIN

WHITE

Director

The Fine Arts

Museums

of

San

Francisco

JAMES

N.

WOOD

Director

The

Art

Institute

of

Chicago


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PREFACE

This catalogue,

and

the

exhibition

which it accompanies,

has

developed

out

of the selection of

Master

Drawings

in

the

Royal

Collection

which

was

shown

at

The

Queen's

Gallery,

Buckingham

Palace,

from

April 1986.

Just

under

a

hun-

dred and fifty

items

were

included

in

that

exhibition,

which covered

for

the first time the

full chronological

range of drawings

(together with

some miniatures

and

illuminated manuscripts) represented

in

the

Royal

Collection.

For

the purpose of

a

travelling exhibition it was decided

to

limit

the

number of

drawings,

to

omit works which

presented

a

potential

conservation

hazard

(such as the

magnificent

composite sheet illuminated

by

Clovio), and

to

confine

the

selection

to

works

by

Italian artists of the

fifteenth

to

eighteenth

centuries. The

present catalogue

thus

contains

many of the

greatest drawings

of the

School

for which the

Royal

Collection

is

most

renowned. It does

not,

however,

include

works

by

artists

such

as

Holbein,

Poussin

and

Claude

for whom

the Royal

holdings

are

equally

important.

But

by

concentrating

on

the

Italian

drawings,

a

rather

more

uniform historical thread

can

be

traced

through

the

sequence of works.

When

an

exhibition

of

Italian Drawings

was

first

discus-

sed,

Her

Majesty had

already agreed that the

Royal Lib-

rary's

Leonardo:

Nature

Studies exhibition

should

be

shown

in

Madrid

and

Barcelona

in

1987-8.

As

that

exhibition

includes

some of Leonardo's

plant and

landscape

studies

that

had

also been

included in The Queen's

Gallery selec-

tion,

their place

has

been taken in the

present

exhibition

by two other

Leonardo drawings

(Nos.

14

and

1

the

Royal Library's extraordinary

holdings

of the w

this

artist.

Another small group

of drawings

(in

Raphael's

studies of

the

Massacre

of

the

Innocents

Poetry)

had

been promised

to the Pierpont

Morgan

for

their exhibition of drawings

by

Raphael and

his

planned

to

open in

the

Autumn

of 1 987.

Replaceme

these

omissions

have

therefore

been

found

and

supplementary

drawings have been

added,

so

t

present selection

includes

ten drawings

not

pre

shown

at The Queen's

Gallery

(Nos.

8, 14, 16, 18,

32,47,

50

and

60).

The Royal Library

at

Windsor

Castle

is

very

gla

co-operating

again

for

the

present

exhibition

w

National Gallery of

Art,

Washington

and with t

Arts Museums,

San

Francisco. Previous exhibit

drawings

from Windsor

at

both

these

gallerie

proved

most

successful.

We are

also

very glad

exhibition of drawings from the Royal

Collection

seen

in

Chicago

for

the

first

time

and

we

are deli

be involved

with the

Art Institute of

Chicago

purpose.

Particular thanks and credit for the genesis and

d

ment of the

present

exhibition are due

to

Jane

R

Curator of the

Print

Room, Windsor Castle,

Andrew

Robison,

Curator of Drawings,

the

Nation

lery

of Art,

Washington.

OLIVER

EV

The

Librarian,

Windso


12/156

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The

foundation

to

any

study of the

Windsor

drawings

was

laid

in the

great

series

of catalogues of the collection

published

by

the Phaidon

Press

over

the last

half century.

All the titles

relating

to

the Italian

drawings

in this series

are included in the List

of

Works

Referred

to

in Abbreviated

Form

on

page 20. My debt to

the scholarship

of the General

Editor and authors of these catalogues

must

be

abun-

dantly

clear.

Work

on

the

watermarks

section of the

Master Drawings

catalogue was undertaken

by a

former

member of

the

Print

Room

staff, Olivia Winterton

(nee Hughes-Onslow),

who assisted me with

great

patience

and

forbearance

at all

stages

in the

planning of that exhibition.

She

also under-

took

a

detailed

study

of

the

so-called

Lanier star

marks,

and my

discussion

of these

on

page

1

5 is largely

dependent

on

her

work. My

other colleagues

at Windsor, and

in the

Lord

Chamberlain's

Office in

London,

have

provided con-

tinuous

support

during

the

preparatory

work

on

both

exhibitions.

Without

them the

present catalogue

could

not

have

been

written.

Other

colleagues

and

friends who have

assisted in

various

ways

include the following:

Noel Annesley,

Charles Avery,

Giulia

Bartrum,

Diane

De Grazia,

Olive

Fortey,

Christopher

Gatiss,

John

Gere, Rupert

Hodge,

George

Knox,

Francois

Mace

de Lepinay,

Constance

Messenger,

Francis

Russell,

Nicholas

Savage, Nicholas

Turner

and

Linda

Wolk.

As

usual

we

are

indebted

to the

staff of

A.

C. Cooper,

and

to

our own

photographic

staff

at

Windsor,

for

providing

the

photographic

material on

which

the

illustrations

in

the

present

catalogue

are based.

All

items

in the

Royal

Collection

and

documents

in

the

Royal

Archives

are

reproduced

by

Gracious Permission

of

Her

Majesty

Elizabeth

II.

Comparative

illustrations

for

the

relevant

catalogue

entries,

together

with

permission

to

reproduce,

have

been

supplied by

the following:

Bologna, A. Villan

Laboratori

Fotografica

(35,45

and

46: reproduce

permission of the Soprintendenza

per

i Beni A

Storici per

le Provincie

di

Bologna,

Ferrara,

Forli

na); Edinburgh,

National

Gallery

of Scotland

(5

duced by

kind

permission

of

the

Duke

of Suth

Florence,

Archivi

Alinari

(

1

and

5);

Forli, Giorgio

(41:

reproduced

by

kind

permission

of

the

Istitut

ali

ed

Artistici

della Citta

di Forli);

London,

Museum

(25,

26 and 27:

reproduced

by courte

Trustees);

London,

Courtauld

Institute

of Art

(17

shire Collection, Chatsworth, reproduced

by

pe

of

the Trustees

of the

Chatsworth

Settlement)

Soprintendenza, Laboratorio Fotoradiografico

(

York, David Tunick

Inc.

(53);

New

York,

Metr

Museum of

Art

(10);

Ottawa, National Gallery o

(57);

Paris, Reunion

des

Musees Nationaux

(11

Rome, Biblioteca

Hertziana

(17);

Rome, Istituto

per

il

Catalogo e

la

Documentazione

(31);

Rome

Nazionale

di

Castel

S.

Angelo

(30);

Rome,

Mon

Musei

e

Gallerie Pontificie

(18,

24 and

39);

Ro

verenda

Fabbrica

di

S.

Pietro in

Vaticano

(40);

Va

University of British

Columbia,

Professor Geor

(52

and

53);

Venice, Gallerie dell' Accademia

28:

reproduced

by

permission

of the

Soprinte

Vienna, Graphische

Sammlung

Albertina

(31,

53);

Washington, National Gallery of Art

(9

Where

no location is

cited,

the

illustration

is

ta

the Royal Collection.

Finally,

I must

once again thank my family

continuing

patience

and

constant

support

duri

developed

into

weeks

of

last-minute

work.

JANE R


13/156

INTRODUCTION

This

catalogue includes a selection

of 61

of the principal

Italian

drawings

in

the

Royal

Collection.

At the

outset

it

must

be

said that

this selection, like

the Collection

itself,

contains no

well-balanced

chronological

series

represent-

ing all

the highways

(and

some of

the

byways)

of

the

history

of Italian art.

For unlike

the

great

national

museums and

art galleries,

where curators

have a public

duty

to

acquire

a

broad

range

of

all

that

was and

is

the

best,

the

British monarchs,

by

whom

and

for whom

the Royal

Collection

was

formed, have

acquired

what

it

pleased

them

(and

their

advisers and

donors)

to acquire,

no

more

and no less.

However,

the interest

in Italian

art demons-

trated

by the Royal

collectors in

the seventeenth and

eighteenth

centuries

means

that

the history

and

develop-

ment

of Italian

draughtsmanship

can

be

fully illustrated

from

the

Windsor

Print Room,

using the

unparalleled

holdings

of

drawings

by

Leonardo

and

other

early

mas-

ters,

by the

great

artists

of the

seventeenth century, and by

the

masters of the

eighteenth-century

Venetian

school. A

comprehensive

picture

can

thus,

I

believe,

be

given,

in

spite

of the

absence of

significant works

by

artists

such

as

Titian,

Veronese,

Guardi

and

Tiepolo.

Before

any

drawing

in

the Royal Collection is

included

in

an

exhibition,

it

is

remounted

and (where possible and

necessary)

lifted

from

its

old

backing

paper,

cleaned

and

restored.

For

the

present

exhibitions,

these operations

have

been

carried

out

by Michael

Warnes

and

his

draw-

ings

conservation

department

at

Windsor.

The

conser-

vation

work has

sometimes resulted in

unexpected

discoveries.

Thus

additional drawings

and inscriptions

have

been

revealed

on

the versos of Nos.

30,

36

and 44,

all

of

which

are naturally

of

relevance

in

any

discussion

of

the main

(recto)

drawings.

The

lifting

process

has

also greatly facilitated

a

study of

the

watermarks.

Tracings

of these marks,

with

brief

com-

mentary,

are

included

as an Appendix

to this catalogue.

The value

of

watermark

examination

for the art historian

was

demonstrated

during

the

selection

process for the

Master

Drawings

exhibition.

Our first

list

had

included

the

study

of a

dromedary

attributed

to

Pisanello

(P&W

26).

In

his

Introduction

to

the catalogue

of the earlier

Italian

drawings

at

Windsor,

the

eminent scholar A. E. Popham

had

written:

Chronologically

the series begins rather

whimsically with the drawing

of a camel

by

Pi

which

must date

from

before

1450

(P&W,

p.

9)

ever,

the watermark

found

on this

sheet (a three

ladder within

a

shield,

topped by

a

six-pointed star

type found on paper in

use

in Italy (especially

Tu

during

the third

decade of the sixteenth century,

before

(cf. Briquet

5926).

Far from

being the mo

Pisanello)

used

by

Pinturicchio

for

the

backgroun

fresco

at

Spello

(c.

1500/01),

the

Windsor drome

therefore presumably

a

copy

after

the

drawing

(or

drawing)

used

by

Pinturicchio.

Examination

of the

mark has shown that

it

is extremely unlikely that P

himself

was

involved

in the

Windsor

drawing,

directly or indirectly.

Function and

purpose

The

drawings in this

exhibition

were executed

diverse

times

and

places,

and were

used

for

a

wide

of purposes.

In some cases

they

may

have been life

subsequently used

in finished works of

art,

but

not

specifically intended for such

a

purpose. Ghirla

study

of the

head of

an old

woman

(No.

1

)

and Leo

drawing of

arms and

hands (No.

10)

are cases in poi

old woman

was

doubtless

drawn

(and

studied

in

de

Ghirlandaio with the prospect

of

the

cycle

of

pain

the

Cappella

Tornabuoni,

Florence,

in

mind,

but

time of

the

painting

her

form

and

features

had bee

adjusted.

Likewise,

the

arms and

hands

in

No.

1

carefully

copied

from

a

model for

use

in

a

female

p

But

how

accurately

they

were

transferred

to

pan

probably

never be

known. Leonardo's heads

of S

and

St

James

(Nos. 11 and

12),

Raphael's

studies

Farnesina

and

the Stanza

della

Segnatura

(Nos.

17 a

and

Perino's

Saints

for

S.

Marcello al

Corso

(No.

all

instances

of

the

artists working

up

studies

from

for

later

use in

a

finished

painting. The

same is

the ca

Tintoretto's

back

view

of

a

man (No.

35),

Domenic

St

Jerome (No.

39),

Maratta's St

Francis

of

Sales (

and

Guercino's

St

Francis

of

Assisi (No.

45).

Pa

figure

studies,

on

both

sides

of

the

sheet

(No.

5

1

),

the

appearance

of being copied from the life,

an


14/156

incorporated

fairly

accurately

as

incidental

detail in

his

great

ceremonial

paintings.

In

other

instances the

drawings are the

compositional

studies

for

a

finished painting,

which may

or

may

not

have

survived.

No.

1

5

shows

Leonardo

working

out the

appropriate

arrangement of

figures

for

a

Virgin

and

Child

composition.

In

other

cases

a

more advanced

stage

in the

preparatory

work

is

shown.

Vivarini's altarpiece

design

(No.

7)

is a rare

survival

indicating the unified architectu-

ral

setting

involved

in many

Renaissance

altarpieces:

it

incorporates

both the

Active architecture

in

the

painting

and

the

real

architecture

of the

frame.

Chronologically the

last example of

a

compositional drawing

in the exhibition

is Sebastiano Ricci's

drawing

of the Adoration

of

the

Magi

(No.

56).

In

addition

to

its

preparatory role for paintings, natu-

rally the drawing

medium is

also

used

in preparation

for

engravings,

works in sculpture or

architecture, and

small-

scale

decorative

objects.

Salviati's drawing

(No.

29)

was

evidently

made

as

the

final

design

for

the

frontispiece

for

Labacco's Architettura.

The precise raison

d'etre of

Franco's

drawing of a

man (No.

34)

is unknown,

but

it

may

have

been

made

specifically

in

connection with

Franco's

print

of the

Flagellation, rather than

for (or

of) a (lost) painted

altarpiece.

It

so

happens

that no designs directly relating

to

architecture,

sculpture

or

decorative

objects

are

included

within

this

selection.

The Italian

figure

drawings

in

the

Royal

Collection are among

the

greatest

of

their

kind, and

it

therefore

seemed sensible

to concentrate on them.

However,

the

fragmentary

architectural

study

in

the cor-

ner

of

Leonardo's

St James

the

Greater (No.

12)

might

serve

as

a

reminder

of

this

type

of

drawing.

Three

of

the

ex-

hibited

items

could

loosely

be classed

as costume

designs ,

although

they

are

both

less

and

more

than

this.

Leonardo's

Masquerade

Figure

(No.

13)

was

produced at

the

start

of

the sixteenth

century,

while

Stefano

della

Bella's

elegant

and

sometimes

fantastic creations

(Nos.

49

and

50)

were

drawn

just

over

a

hundred

years

later.

Michelangelo's

presentation

drawings

(e.g., Nos.

20

and

21)

occupy

a

special

place

in

the history

of draughts-

manship

for

many

reasons,

but

notably

because they were

considered

(by

the

artist)

of

sufficient

quality

to present

to

his

especial

friends,

in

the

same

way

as

another artist

might

have

given

a

painting

or

a

piece

of

sculpture. In

his

letter

of

thanks

for

two

such

gifts,

Tommaso

de'

Cavalieri

informed

Michelangelo

that he

was

spending

at

least

two

hours

each

day

in

contemplating

the drawings.

A

further

reference

to the

serious

appreciation

of

drawings

at this

early

date

occurs

in

a letter

of

c.

1538-41

from

Vittoria

Colonna

to

Michelangelo,

in

which

she

describes

one of

the

artist's

drawings

of

Christ

on

the

Cross

in the

following

words:

It

is

not

possible

to

see

an

image

better

made,

more

alive

and

more

finished

and

certainly I could

never

explain

how

subtly

and

marvellously

wrought

it

is. ... I

have

looked

at

it

carefully

in the

light,

with

the

glass,

and

with the

mirror and

I have never seen

a

more

thing (BM

Michelangelo

200)

.

Michelangelo's older contemporary, Leonar

himself produced

presentation drawings of

a

rath

ent

type

a

decade or more

before.

He

had

given

a

of

Neptune and the tritons to

his

friend

Antonio Se

to

the latter's depature

for

Rome in

1

504. That dr

lost,

but

its

appearance

is known

through

the

pre

study at

Windsor

(RL

12570r). Leonardo's

extra

series of Deluge drawings (including

No.

16)

m

have

been

intended

as

independent

works of art

own right,

although their

immediate

purpose

known. Other later examples of

finished

drawing

ing

what

could loosely be

termed

landscape

works

by

Guercino

(No.

44)

and

Canaletto (Nos.

The concept of

the

drawing

as a

work of art

in

right

has

endured in the field

of portraiture u

present

day. In

this selection the tradition

can b

through the self-portraits

of Annibale Carra

Bernini

(Nos.

37

and

38)

to

the

much-repeated

an

popular heads of Piazzetta

(Nos.

52-55).

The tradition

of

collecting

drawings

The appreciation

of drawings

as

objects worthy

of

tion and

acquisition thus

dates back to

the

Italian

ance, and

to

the

very

earliest

items in

this

ex

Because

of

their

preparatory nature, most

d

perished

in

the

studios

in

which

they were ma

should

not

therefore ask why

there

are now

-

for

-

so

few

fifteenth-

and

sixteenth-century

drawing

many

paintings

and

other

works

of art of that

wonder

why

there are

so

many. The

circumstan

drawing's survival are only rarely

documented.

stance, we know that

at

the time of

Leonardo's

1519,

most of

his

drawings and

papers were

with

h

they were bequeathed

to

his

favourite

pupil F

Melzi

and

thereafter

were

acquired

by

the

sculpt

peo Leoni.

The volume containing the

Leonardo

d

which are now

at

Windsor was purchased fro

by the

great

English

collector,

Thomas

Howard,

Arundel, and

was

transported

by

him

to

Engla

AandB).

Artists must always have been

among

the

chie

tors of drawings,

both by

inheritance

from

their

and by

design. Giulio Clovio

(1498-1578)

is k

have

been an assiduous collector of

works

by

Mi

gelo and

may once have owned his

drawing

of

t

rection

in

the

present exhibition

(No.

23).

Man

Italian

seventeenth-century drawings

at

Winds

once

owned

by Carlo Maratta

(1625-1713)

wh

ceeded in

building

up

one of

the

finest

colle

drawings

by artists

of

Seicento Rome that

have

e

made

(BM,

p.

9).

Maratta's

collection depend


15/156

largely on

that

formed

by

Domenichino's

pupil and

heir,

Francesco

Raspantino,

which

included

a

vast

group

of

drawings by

Domenichino

(e.g.

No.

39),

in

addition

to

around 550

drawings

by

members

of the

Carracci

family.

It

would

be

surprising if the 200 drawings

by Maratta

himself (including

Nos.

40

and

41),

and

the

group of

studies

by

his

master

Sacchi,

had

not

entered the

Royal

Collection by the

same

route. The

Maratta

collection

was

purchased

by

the Albani Pope,

Clement XI in

1703,

and

thus

entered

the

Royal

Collection

in 1762 with

other

drawings from

the

Albani

family.

Another notable

collection

was formed

by Sir Peter

Lely

(161

8-80)

,

the

greatest

portraitist of the

Restoration

years

in England. Lely

may

have

acted as

intermediary

in finally

securing both

the

Leonardo and

the

Holbein drawings

for

the

Crown. Among

the

artists

particularly well-

represented in his

collection was

Parmigianino,

and

it

may

be no coincidence

that

four

small

volumes of

drawings

by

this artist are

also

included in the

early

eighteenth-

century

inventory

of

the

Royal

Collection

(the

Kensing-

ton Inventory:

see

below

and

Fig.

C).

The

outer

bindings

of

three

volumes survive

at

Windsor today (Figs.

A

and

B

)

.

One of these was

inscribed

and

dated by

the engraver

A

The three Parmigianino

notebooks

B

Two

of the Parmigianino

notebooks opened

to

reveal the sheets

of

coated paper

4&t

*f7j

J

#*

.

UMf;

?*/ilrr?7is,

&}>,

/ffan,

6.

&

k?s*

.

**

y. A

iAitt

a

/etsJZmtin*^,

fit:

is.

y

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A

Ibrntft.pttyMMu^kn,

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ri

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Tltr.

i+.

ft.

ft*^

rf

Mn^jtrruztirAgfAf+rv,

flf.

if.*

ft

%** /

v//

Jmu

ffufcv ,

Actum,

fit.

i.

ft

Cfivtr

/r/fi(

one

.2ram'm

ry

fA/ru/t'm

M&rfi,

flff.

17-

J'f'in^ina/^M

Jertm//

fltr.

is.

fij

/cirtrviJY

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fie.

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16/156

both

by

his

uncle,

the

better

known

Richard

Gibson

(c.

1605-90),

and by

Lely,

part

of whose

collection

he

purchased.

He

is

said

to

have

died

of

lethargy

in

1702

(H.

Walpole,

Anecdotes,

III,

2nd.

edn.

1765,

p.

68;

see

also

F.

Watson,

On

the

early

history

of

collecting

in

England ,

Burl.

Mag.,

LXXXV,

1944,

p.

224).

The

Gibson

hand has

also

been

identified

on a

group

of

independent

drawings at

Windsor,

including

Nos. 5

and

2

1

in

the present

exhibition

(see

Fig. E)

.

The

mark

of

another

artist,

Jonathan

Richard-

son

(

1

665-

1

745

)

,

appears on a

number of

drawings

in the

eghA,\10

J^-

lincA

I

E

Inscription in

the

Gibson

hand

on

the verso

of

No.

5

Collection.

According to

his son,

Richardson

bought

extensively

from Gibson's

widow,

but

only

after the

Duke

of Devonshire

had made

his own

selection

from the

drawings.

During

the eighteenth

century,

Paul Sandby

formed

a

fine collection of old

master and modern drawings, many

of which later

passed

into the

collection

of Sir

Thomas

Lawrence.

The

page

of figure

studies

by

Pannini (No.

51)

was

formerly

in

Lawrence's collection,

and

was presum-

ably

therefore

a late

nineteenth-century

addition to

the

Royal

Collection.

The

history

of

the

Royal

Collection

The

history of

the

formation

of the Royal

Collection is

a

long

and

complicated

one,

which

has

already

been

re-

counted

in

some

detail

elsewhere

(BM,

pp.

1-18).

The

introductions

to the

individual

volumes in

the

series of

catalogues

of

the

Collection

(formerly

published

by

the

Phaidon

Press)

likewise

include

full

discussions on

the

provenance

of the

drawings

in

each

category. Briefly,

the

first

major

groups

of

drawings to

enter

the Collection

were

those

for

which

it is

most

famous,

by

Holbein

and by

Leonardo.

Holbein's

great

booke ,

in which

each

of the

eighty-one

Holbein

drawings

now

at Windsor

was

formerly

mounted,

first

entered

the

Royal

Collection

very

soon

after

the

artist's

death in

1543.

However,

it subse-

quently

departed

into

the

collections

of the

Lords

Arun-

del,

Lumley,

Pembroke

and

Arundel

(again),

with

a brief

intermission

in

the

libraries

of

Prince

Henry

and of King

Charles

I,

before

finally

settling

in

the Royal

Collection

shortly

before

1676.

The binding

of

the

volume

containing

the

six hundred

or

so

drawings

by

Leonardo

(including

Nos.

10-16)

has

survived

in

the

Royal

Library,

empty

except

for a

few

blank

pages

and

stumps

(Figs.

F

and

G). The

Leonardo

drawings

were

also

a

seventeenth-century

acquisition,

*

gfc

;

ftPfoP

frLEQ&ARD'C

.DAjvINCI>RE:

DA*POMFEC

*le'Oni*

F

The

Leoni

binding

which

formerly contained

all

the

six h

drawings

by

Leonardo in

the

Royal Collection

although

the

exact

date

of entry

to

the

Collection

less

securely documented.

There are

references

ings

by

Leonardo in the

hands

of

the

King

of

E

before 1640, but

what were

presumably th

drawings were later referred to and

engraved

collection

of

Thomas

Howard, Earl of

Arundel

(

14).

However, we

know that

in

1690

Queen

showed

the volume of Leonardo

(and of

Holbein

ings to

her

secretary,

the Dutch

statesman

and c

Constantin Huygens,

and

the drawings

have bee

Collection ever since.

During

the

reign of King George

II (and probabl

before 1735) the

drawings in the Royal

Collection

were at that time

chiefly

kept

in

a bureau

in Ken

Palace, were listed in

an inventory now in the

Library

(B.M.

Add. 20101,

ff. 28

and

29;

Fig.

C.

D

hereafter

as

the

Kensington

Inventory). In additi

drawings

by Holbein

and

Leonardo

a

number

works

by

Italian

masters

of the

sixteenth and seve

centuries

were

mentioned

(including

four

books

ings

by

Parmigianino:

see

under No.

27),

toget

prints

by

Diirer

and

Hollar,

several

volumes of

d

by

defferent

hands ,

and

Prince Charle's Boo


17/156

G

The

Leoni

binding,

showing

the original

guard

papers

few

Drawings .

The last

entry leads

us to refer

to

the

few

entries

in

Van der

Doort's

inventory

(dated

1637-9)

of

Charles

I's

collection

which

relate to

drawings

(see

BM,

p. 2),

and

in

particular

to the book Conteyning

sev'all

ccons

and

postures

invented

by

Michaell

Angello

Bono-

rotto ,

which

bore Prince

Charles's

arms on its front cover

and

which

is

probably

therefore

identifiable

with Prince

Charle's

Book

in

the

Kensington Inventory.

The

only

one

of Van

der

Doort's

references

to drawings

that

can

ositively

be

identified

in the

present Collection is the

group

of French

sixteenth-century portraits,

to

which

BF

2

and

BF

9-19

once

belonged.

These

were

doubtless

preserved

because they

were kept

in a

relatively in-

conspicuous

album

on

the shelves

or

in

the

cupboards

of

a

library

or

closet.

Other

drawings,

framed

and

therefore

listed

with

the

paintings, or discovered

by

the

assessors

in

the

small

trunk ,

were

included

in

the

valuations

of King

Charles

I's

property made

in

1649-51,

and

were

subsequently

disposed

of.

Among

these

were

a

few

somewhat

enigmatic

items, such as

1

.

The

drawings

of

a Candlestick,

don

by van

Melly ,

and

376.

Tobyas

&

y

e

Angell

in

Water Colo.

r

done

by

the

Kings

Neece ,

valued

at

2s and

2s

6d

respectively

{I&V,

pp.

151,247).

It

might

be

expected

that

collectors' marks could

pro-

vide

another

source

of

evidence

for the early

history

of

the Royal Collection of drawings.

Many

of the

Italian drawings at Windsor

bear

one of

the

star

associated

with

Nicholas Lanier

(1588-1666).

confusion

surrounds the

Lanier collector's

mark

Lugt

cites

as

having

two main

forms:

a

large

pointed

star (Lugt

2885),

and a

smaller

five-poin

(Lugt

2886).

Examples of

both

these

types

exist

the

Royal

Collection,

but are not represented

on

the

drawings

selected

for this exhibition.

Instead,

bears the

much rarer six-pointed

star,

which

has

h

been left

unrecognized.

The

significance

of

the different star marks

has

matter

of

discussion

(and controversy) since

the

eenth

century.

Richardson,

Vertue and

Walpole

agreement

in

assigning

a

small

star

to

drawings

co

by

Lanier for

the Earl of Arundel, and a large

drawings

collected by Lanier for King Charles

I. Ho

they

did

not agree

when

discussing

the

number o

on the

particular stars. Examples of

the small

five-

star mark

are

to

be found

in relatively

large

number

majority

of the

older drawings

collections

in

E

(Christ

Church,

the

Ashmolean,

Chatsworth,

a

British Museum).

The

large

eight-pointed

st

appears

in a

number of

the

above collections,

proportionally

less common. If the

traditional

signi

of

this

mark (as

having been

applied

to those

dr


18/156

collected

by

Lanier for

King

Charles

I)

is

correct,

then this

wide

distribution

may be

explained

by

the

dispersal of

the

King's

property

during

the

Commonwealth

period.

However,

the

lack of

any

documentation

determining

what

drawings

left

the

Royal

Collection

at

that time

and

what

remained

means

that

it

is

still

impossible

to

argue

conclusively

for either

one of

the two Lanier

stars apper-

taining

specifically to

the King.

The

six-pointed

star re-

mains an

enigma. It

should

be

mentioned

here that the

two

modern

Royal

collector's

marks

applied to

many of

the

drawings

in this

exhibition

bear

no relationship

to

the

date

of

acquisition

of the drawing

concerned. They

were

merely

an

attempt

by

the

Librarian

of

the

day

to

mark

the

more

important drawings

in

the

Collection

with

some

sign

of

ownership.

By

choosing the monograms

of

King Ed-

ward VII

and King George V,

during whose reigns no

important

old master drawings entered

the

Collection,

they have

only

served

to

confuse

the issue.

To these

miscellaneous

and

sometimes

conflicting

pieces of

information

about

the

Stuart

drawings collection

should

be

added

the

following

one,

found

in the

inven-

tory of King

George Ill's

collection made

around

1800

yJt-

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20/156

and a

further

group

of

that

artist's

drawings

which

entered

the

Collection at

this

time

doubtless

came

from

this

source.

The

Albani

family

collection

included

the

fourteen

volumes

of

drawings

by

Carlo

Fontana

containing

his

designs

for

projects

commissioned by

members

of

that

family.

It

also

contained

most

of the

other

volumes

of

Italian

architectural

drawings

still

in the

Collection,

from

one

of

which

Salviati's

frontispiece

design

(No.

29)

was

evidently

removed.

In

addition,

many

miscellaneous

purchases

were

made

both

in

Italy

and

in

England

by

King

George

Ill's

Librarian,

the

antiquarian

Richard

Dalton,

although

scarcity

of

documentation

means that

it

is

seldom

possible to be

sure

exactly

what these

purchases

involved.

They

almost

cer-

tainly

included

the

group

of

presentation

drawings by

Michelangelo

referred to

above,

which had

formerly be-

longed

to

Cardinal

Alessandro

Farnese,

and

which had

passed

by

descent

through

the

Farnese

family.

The

large

group

of

drawings

by

Guercino

in

the

Collection (includ-

ing

Nos.

43-45)

was

purchased

by

Dalton

from the

Gen-

nari

family in

1763

and a

series

of studies by

Sassoferrato

(presumably

including

No.

42)

was

acquired at

around the

same

time.

The

foregoing

might suggest

that

(with the

notable

exception

of

the

drawings

by

Holbein and

Poussin) the

Royal

Collection was

exclusively

devoted to

works

by

Italian

artists. But

in

Inventory

A a large

number

of

drawings by

Flemish,

Dutch,

German and

French

masters are

listed,

including

works

by

Rubens,

Avercamp

and

Cornells

Visscher.

These survive in

the

Collection

today, but

are

necessarily

excluded

from the

present

exhibition.

Because

of

the

number

of drawings involved,

and

the

fact that the most

important purchases were made

by

agents in

Italy,

it

is

extremely

unlikely

that the magni-

ficent

additions

to

the Royal Collection in

the

later eight-

eenth century

can be

taken individually

to

reflect the

personal taste

of the

monarch concerned.

King

George

III

was seriously

interested in the arts and

doubtless

consi-

dered it a

duty

as well as a

pleasure

to

acquire

fine

pieces

for

his

collection. But he

was

probably

more

personally

concerned with

his

natural

historical

drawings

(by

artists

such

as Merian and Catesby) and his topographical

collec-

tion (which

is

now

in the

British Museum)

than

with

drawings

by

old masters. During his reign

the

Royal

Library,

in

which the drawings have

traditionally

been

and continue

to be

kept,

was

situated

at

Buckingham

House (later

Palace)

in London. The King is known

to have

been

a frequent visitor

to

the Library,

but

is

not

documented as

having

paid particular

attention

to

his

volumes of drawings. Nevertheless,

the first

series

of

reproductions of drawings

in

the

Royal

Collection

were

published

at

this

time, with

royal permission, and

in-

cluded

engravings after Nos. 22 and

29

in

this

exhibition.

King

George's

son and

successor, King

George

IV,

had

a

more

passionate

(and

extravagant)

interest

although

his chief

acquisitions

involved

objects

on

larger

scale

than

mere

drawings.

Even

so,

large

n

of

drawings

and

watercolours

with

a

military

or

th

subject

matter

were

added

to

the

Collection

dur

reign,

including

an

important

group of

works

by

and

other

contemporary

(or

slightly earlier)

artists.

In

her

Journal

entry

for 4

September

1838,

Victoria

noted:

Lord

Melbourne

rode

out

at V2

past 3

with Mu

Cumberland Lodge

to

see

the

prints,

and came

ho

past

6.

He said

it

was a

most splendid

collection.

Ther

books

of

Domenichino's

Original

Drawings,

s

Raphael's,

some

beautiful Michael

Angelos,

Lord

M.

sketches;

some

of

Albert

Durer's;

a

book

of Ho

drawings ... I

said

I

had

seen in the

afternoon a

beautiful

sketches by

Guido, and one

of

Domenic

Lord

M.

said they were

kept

in 2

rooms,

in cases;

th

were

every

sort

of

print,

and

most

valuable,

and

th

impossible

to

look

at

them

all.

We

spoke of all this f

time, and of the

use

Lord M.

said

these

original d

would

be to

artists.

Later in the

reign,

following her marriage

and

the

of

the collection of prints and drawings

to

Windso

the

Queen

recorded many

happy

evenings

spen

Print

Room,

sorting portrait

miniatures,

enamel

gravings, arranging

the Prince's

Raphael Collec

making

up albums of

contemporary

drawings an

acquired

by the

royal

couple.

On 18 August 18

looked

at

some

beautiful

original

drawings

by the

which belong

to

my

collection.

They

are

great

t

and

there are

5 volumes

of them

which we had

n

before.

Three

years

later,

on

25

July

1844,

we

alone

together

and

then

looked

at some of our e

and

at

the

exquisite

original

drawings

by

Ho

However,

in

spite

of the

great

and

active

intere

shared

by

Queen

Victoria

and

Prince

Albert,

no im

old

master

drawings

were

added

to

the

Collectio

the

early

years

of

the

reign.

Instead they

concentr

the

commissioning

and

purchasing

of

works

b

masters,

recording

the

features

of family,

friends,

houses,

places

visited,

or

recording

ceremonies

taken

place.

During

the

years

leading

up to Prince

death

the

collection

of drawings

and

engravi

ordered

and

arranged

(with

the active

participati

Queen

and

Prince

Albert)

in

the newly

equipp

Room

at

Windsor.

The

system

introduced

at

tha

largely

that

which

survives

today.

In

the

later

part

of

Queen

Victoria's

reign,

while

Holmes

was

Librarian

(1870-1906),

a

number o

tant

and

enlightened

purchases

were

made.

Seve

old

master

drawings

which

otherwise

had no

association

with

the

Collection

were

acquired.

T


21/156

group

of

drawings

at Windsor

bearing the

marks

of Paul

Sandby and

of Sir Thomas

Lawrence

(e.g.,

No.

51)

were

purchased

at this

time.

During

the reign of King

Edward

VII two series of

portrait

drawings were

commissioned from

William

Strang,

and other

drawings

were acquired

as the result of

presentations.

Queen

Alexandra,

Queen Mary and

Her

Majesty

Queen

Elizabeth

The

Queen

Mother

have

all

made generous

gifts

of

drawings

to

the Collection. These,

together

with

the

drawings in the Coronation and Jubilee

gifts

presented to Her

Majesty

by

the Royal Academy,

have

allowed the

range of

the

Collection

to

exten

present

day. Her

Majesty

has

continued

to

acquir

ings and

watercolours which are directly

relevan

existing

holdings,

and

in this way additional wo

West, Wilkie, Stothard,

Nash and in particular Pau

by

have entered the Collection

in

recent

years.

every

item

in

the Royal Collection

is

there for

som

historical

reason.

If

the

artistic

quality

of

some

of

t

recent additions is sometimes

not

as great as

th

considerable

acquisitions of

previous

centuries,

the

vance

to the Collection is undiminished.


22/156

LIST

OF

WORKS

REFERRED

TO

IN

ABBREVIATED

FORM

Note:

Catalogues

specifically

concerned

with drawings

in the

Royal

Collection are denoted by

a

crown

alongside

the

abbreviation.

Ames-Lewis F. Ames-Lewis

and J.

&

Wright

Wright,

Drawing in

the

Italian

Renaissance

Workshop

(exh.

cat.),

London,

1983

Bartsch A.

Bartsch, Le

Peintre

Graveur.

Vienna,

1803-21

Bathoe/

A catalogue

of

the

Venue

Pictures

ek

belonging to

King James the

Second .

. .

[and] in the Closet

of

the

late Queen Caroline.

London, 1758

$d BCS A. Blunt, The Drawings

of

G.

B. Castiglione and

Stefano

della

Bella

in

the

Collection

of

Her

Majesty

The

Queen

at

Windsor

Castle.

London,

1954

PC

K. T.

Parker.

The

Drawings

of

Antor.io

Canaletto

in

the

Collection

of

His

Majesty

The

King

at

Windsor

Castle.

London,

1948:

reprinted,

with

an

Appendix

by C.

Miller,

New

York,

1985

Popham

A. E. Popham

1967

Drawings.

.

British Museu

Working

in Pa

Sixteenth

Cent

London, 196

Popham

A. E. Popham

1971

of

the

Drawing

Parmigianino,

Haven

and L

Popham &

A. E.

Popha

Pouncey P. Pouncey,

Drawings

. .

British

Museu

1950


23/156

CATALOGUE


24/156

1

DOMENICO

GHIRLANDAIO

(C.

1449-94)

Head

of

an

Old

Woman

Metalpoint

heightened

with

white on

paper

coated

with a

salmon

pink

preparation. 231

x

184

mm.

verso:

inscribed

in pen and

brown ink, lower left:

di

Michelanoilo

bonaroti.

A

detailed life

study,

in

which the

advantages of

a

coloured

coating

to the

paper are

used to

the

full. The head and face

were first

sketched

in with metalpoint. The same instru-

ment

was

also

used for the

initial

modelling,

both in

broadly

spaced

hatching lines

and

in

a

dense network of

closely

spaced

parallel

lines (for

the

facial features). White

highlighting

was

then applied in areas, the short

flecks

following

the form,

and the

outer

edge

of

the headdress

was emphasized with

a continuous and unusually

free

line

of white

paint.

Berenson

identified

this

as a preliminary

study for

a

figure

in

the left-hand group of

the fresco

of

the Birth

of

the

Virgin,

one of the important

series of

paintings

executed

by

Ghirlandaio

in

the chancel

(or Cappella

Tornabuoni)

of

the church of

S.

Maria

Novella,

Florence,

between

1485

and

1490. Many of the

figures

represented in th

coes

are

evidently

portrait

likenesses,

and it

is

that several

represent members

of

the Tornabuon

The

cartoon for

another

of the

heads

in

this

fr

Chatsworth (No. 885r;

see

Ames-Lewis

&

Wright

the verso of the Chatsworth

sheet is

a full-length

another

figure in the same group.

Whereas

both r

verso of

the

Chatsworth

sheet

are

very close

to

t

as finally

painted,

the

present

drawing differs

i

respects

from

the painted

head

for which it

was (

ably)

preparatory.

The

form

of

the headdress

h

adapted and, even

more

important, the

direction

of light

has been altered.

The

preliminary

compo

study for the fresco,

in the

British

Museum (P

Pouncey

69;

Ames-Lewis

&

Wright

56),

show

number

of

changes

both in the

placing

and

in the

of

figures

were made

before

work

on

the

actual

was begun.

At the

time

of

Ghirlandaio's

work

in the

Tornabuoni,

the

young

Michelangelo

(to whom t

was

once

optimistically

attributed)

was

workin

master's

studio. It

is

generally

considered,

howev

Michelangelo's

earliest

drawings

were

in pen

rather

than

metalpoint.

Provenance:

presumably

King

George

III (Inve

pp.

16-17:

Diversi

Maestri

Antichi,

or

p.

19:

Teste

Maestri:

these

two

categories,

the

contents

of wh

rarely

specified,

probably

contained

the

bulk of t

Italian

drawings

at

Windsor).

(P&W9;

RL

12804)

DOMENICO

GHIRLANDAIO,

Birth

of

the Virgin

(detail;

Florence,

Cappella Tornabuoni,

S.

Maria

Novella)


25/156


26/156

FRA

ANGELICO

(1387-1455)

or

BENOZZO

GOZZOLI

(c.

1421-1497)

Head

of

a

cleric

Metalpoint and

brown

wash,

heightened

with

white, on

paper

coated

with an

ochre

preparation. 189

x

173

mm.

verso: Mother and

child

and

St

Lawrence, and

figure

with

clasped hands.

Pen

and brown

ink and

wash.

The

head

on the recto,

which does

not

seem to be

related

to

any

surviving

painted

work,

has

all the

appearance of a

study

from

life.

It incorporates a

delicacy

combined with a

strength

of

modelling

that is usually

taken

to

distinguish

the

painted works of

Fra

Angelico

from those

of his chief

assistant,

Benozzo

Gozzoli,

and

the

drawing was attri-

buted to Fra

Angelico

by

Berenson. In

the

absence of

comparable

drawings

by

the

older master,

later scholars

(including Popham) favoured an

attribution

to Gozzoli.

Pope-Hennessy,

however,

considered

that

Angelico's

authorship of the

recto

cannot

be

ruled

out

(J.

Pope-

Hennessy, Fra Angelico,

London,

1952,

p.

189).

Another

drawing at

Windsor (P&W 11

recto),

also

attributed

to

Gozzoli

by

Popham,

is in

a

rather

different

technique,

with

bolder application of white highlights and the head

set

less

securely

on

the neck

and

shoulders.

The

attribution

of

this

drawing has been

confused

by the

figures on the verso of this

sheet,

which are connected

to

two scenes from the

cycle

of

frescoes

representing

the

lives

of

Saints

Stephen

and Lawrence

in the chapel

of

Nicholas V

in

the

Vatican.

These

frescoes,

which

were

painted

between

the

year

of

that

Pope's

accession

(1447)

and

1449,

were

commissioned

from

Fra

Angelico

but

were

executed with

the help of various

assistants

(including

Gozzoli), to

whom

independent

payments were

made.

In

both

the relevant frescoes

(St

Lawrence

distributing

alms

and

St

Lawrence

before

Decius),

Gozzoli's

responsibility

was

con-

siderable.

As, however,

the verso

drawings

must

be

stu-

dies of

rather

than for

the paintings,

this

argument

helps

little

in

the

attribution

of

the

much

finer

study on

the

recto.

Provenance:

see

under

No. 1.

(P&W

10*;

RL

12812)

CAT.

2

verso


27/156


28/156

LUCA

SIGNORELLI (c.

1441-1523)

Hercules

and

Antaeus

Black

chalk. The

lower

quarter of the

sheet has

several

irregular

lines

of

pin

pricks,

totally unrelated

to the

present

drawing.

282

x

162 mm.

Watermark:

related

to

Briquet

3899

(Venice, 1498).

The struggle

between

the

Greek hero

Hercules

and

the

giant

Antaeus

was frequently depicted by Renaissance

artists.

According

to

classical myth,

Antaeus,

a

son

of

the

goddess

Earth,

was

strengthened

by

contact with

the

ground and therefore

arose mightier following

a

fall.

Hercules,

perceiving

this,

lifted

him

up in the

air and

crushed him to

death. In Cristoforo

Landino's

De vera

nobilitate,

written

c.

1475,

a neo-Platonic

interpretation

of

the

story

is given.

Antaeus,

the

son of the

earth, cannot

be

destroyed

as

long

as he

maintains

contact

with

earthly

desires.

Hercules,

in lifting

him

from

the

ground,

separates

him from those material preoccupations which

interfere

with

the

attainment

of

divine

things.

For it is

only when

we are

cut

off from our physical

possessions that we

can

attain

spiritual rewards

(Bober & Rubinstein,

p.

173).

Various sculpted depictions of

the scene

by ancient

Roman artists

were

known

in

the Renaissance.

Both

ancient and

modern

artists recognized

the

possibilities it

presented for

the

portrayal

of

the naked human

figure

in

action.

The large-scale

marble

group

of

Hercules

and

Antaeus

now

in the courtyard of

the

Pitti

Palace, Florence,

was

already known

in

the

Renaissance,

but was

almost

certainly

in

Rome

rather

than

Florence

(Bober

&

Rubin-

stein,

No.

137,

p.

173).

That

group,

in

its unrestored

state,

was copied (in

reverse)

by

a follower

of

Mantegna

in

another

drawing

at Windsor

(P&W

17;

Ames-Lewis

&

Wright

43).

Antonio

Pollaiuolo's

bronze of

Hercules

and

Antaeus

(in

the Bargello) and

his painting

(in

the

Uffizi),

both

dating

from

the

1470s,

were

doubtless known

to

Signorelli

when

making

this

drawing.

A

number

of

en-

gravings

of the

subject have

survived

from

the

fifteenth

century

of

which one,

by

an

artist from

the

school

of

Mantegna

(Bartsch

XIII,

p.

202, No.

1;

erroneously

attri-

buted

to

Pollaiuolo),

is

loosely connected

to the

present

study.

Hercules'

attributes

have by

now

been added

to

the

standing figure.

The attributes

are also

included

in

Man-

tegna's

depiction of

Hercules and

Antaeus

on

the

vault

of

the

Camera

degli

Sposi, Mantua

(by

1474), to

which

the

engraving

is also

clearly

related.

In

spite

of

these

connec-

tions,

in No.

3

Signorelli

appears

to

have

studied

two

living

models

of whom

the

figure

nearest

us (for

Antaeus)

is

shown

partly

supported

by a

block.

In

a finished

work

both

his

legs

would

be

shown

unsupported.

The bold

lines

of

the

drawing

led

early

cataloguers

(and

later

Passavant)

to attribute

it

to

Raphael.

The

head

on

the

right is

indeed

more

reminiscent

of

the

work

of

a m

the

High

Renaissance

(such as Rosso

or

Pontormo)

c.

1490,

when

this

drawing

was

probably

prod

dates

therefore

from

Signorelli's middle

years,

described as a

time

of

cultivation ...

of

a

monumental

style, focused on

the

nude

figure,

closely

bound up

-

partly

as a

cause

and

par

consequence

-

with

the

young

Michelangelo's esp

a

grand

style

(G.

Kury,

The

Early

Works

ofLuca

S

New

York

and

London,

1978,

p.

351).

Provenance:

King

George III

(Inventory

A,

p.

5 1

:

d'Urbino e

Scuola,

No. 38. Wrestlers, or Hercu

Antaeus ).

(P&W

29*;

RL

12805)

SCHOOL

OF

MANTEGNA,

Hercules

and

Antaeus

(engraving;

Ba

p.

202.

No.

1)


29/156


30/156

Baccio

della

Porta,

called

FRA

Bartolommeo

(1472-1517)

Virgin

and

Child

with

kneeling

angels

Pen

and

brown

ink. 164

x

224

mm.

verso:

Virgin

and

Child

with the

infant

St John the

Baptist

and

Angels.

Pen and

brown

ink,

heightened

with white.

No

painting

is

known

to

relate directly to

the

compositions

on either the recto

or

the verso of this

sheet,

nor to

similar

drawings

by

the

artist

in

the Uffizi

and the British

Museum. Fra

Bartolommeo

appears

to

have

been working

through

possible

representations of

the

theme of the

Virgin

and Child,

which were much in

demand

for

altar-

pieces and

devotional

paintings. In the present instance

one

of

the

kneeling

angels supports

an

open book,

which

the

Virgin is

apparently reading

to

the

Christ

Child. On the

verso

one

of the kneeling angels holds

the

standing figure

of

the

Infant

John

the

Baptist,

as

he

approaches

the

Virgin

and Child.

A

roundel

in the Samuel H.

Kress

Collection,

formerly attributed

to Fra

Bartolommeo's

follower and

collaborator

Mariotto

Albertinelli (1474-1515)

b

considered an autograph

work

by

Fra

Bartolom

related

to

the drawing series.

The

style

of this

study

is typical of

Fra

Barto

with

its

very

fine

and

dense

crosshatching

and th

like,

almost gothic,

terminations

of the folds.

Thi

ing,

and others of

its

type,

have

been dated

to

decade of the

sixteenth

century,

before

the

artist'

Venetian visit.

Provenance: King George

III

(Inventory

A,

p.

47:

Angelo,

Fra

Bartolommeo.

And: del Sarto,

p.

3 1 .

Virg

Jesus

S:

1

John

and Angels

Adoring.

The

other

sid

Mary

Jesus

&

two

Angels

Adoring,

&

a

sketch

of a

iP&W 1

13 verso;

RL 12782

verso)

CAT. 4 verso


31/156


32/156

Baccio

della

Porta,

called

Fra

Bartolommeo

(1472-1517)

Seated

man

in

a

turban

Metalpoint,

heightened

with

white,

on

paper

coated

with

a

pale

blue

preparation.

261

x

180 mm

(irregular).

verso:

A

profile

(black

chalk);

detailed

study

of drapery,

and

(inverted) study

of

a

seated

man.

Metalpoint

on

paper

coated

with a

lilac

preparation.

Inscribed

(by

Gibson),

lower

centre,

on

two

conjoined

fragments

of

white

paper

together

measuring

1

1

x

79

mm: 6 3

Leonardo

da

Vinci.

The

drawings

on both

the recto

and the

verso

of this

sheet

are

connected

with

the

figures in

the upper

(celestial)

regions

of the

fresco of

the

Last

Judgement

commissioned

of

Fra

Bartolommeo

by

Gerozzo

Dini

for the

Church

of S.

Maria

Nuova,

Florence,

in

1498.

Following

Fra

Bartolom-

meo's

temporary

retirement

from the

active

world

in

1500,

by

which date

the

upper

part

of

the fresco

had

apparently

been completed,

the

painting

was continued

by

his

partner,

Mariotto

Albertinelli.

The

fresco,

much

damaged,

survives in the

Museo

di

S.

Marco.

The figure

in the

present

drawing

has

been related

to

that

at

far

right

of

the

fresco.

The painted

figure,

however,

lacks

a

turban

and

is seated at

a rather

different angle.

Similar exotic headgear appears in other preparatory

studies

for

the

Last Judgement

(e.g.,

a

drawing in Rotter-

dam),

but

the artist evidently abandoned the idea when

he

came

to

paint

the fresco. A newly

identified

study

for

the

same figure at

the

British Museum

is

closer

to

the

finished

painting

(Turner

31).

The London

drawing

is

similar

in

technique to

No.

5,

but uses a

buff rather than

a

blue

prepared

ground.

Another

study

in

the same collection

for

the figure

of

God

the

Father in the

Last

Judgement is

drawn

in

distemper on

tinted

linen (Turner

28).

A

preliminary

pen and ink study

for the same figure as No. 5 is also

at

the

British

Museum

(Turner

30).

Comparison

with

the (in-

verted)

seated

figure on the

verso

of

No.

5

suggests

that the

latter

may

be

a

very tentative

study

for

the same

figure.

The drapery study

also on

the verso

was presumably

made

for

the

same

commission, and

is

probably

the

result

of

soaking

fabric in liquid

clay

and arranging it (when

still

wet)

in

an

appropriate

way

on

a

lay

figure.

This

technique,

much

used by

late fifteenth-century Florentine

artists,

was described

by

Vasari

in his

Life

of

Leonardo.

Recent suggestions that

No.

5

should

be

attributed

to

Albertinelli

are

unconvincing.

Provenance: Gibson; then

as

for

No.

1.

(P&W

108*;

RL

12825)

CAT.

5 verso

FRA

BARTOLOMMEO,

The Last

Judgement (detail;

Florence,

S.

Marco)


33/156


34/156

Giovanni

Bellini

(c.

1431-1516)

Head

of

a

bearded old

man

Drawn

in black

Italian Master Drawings, Leonardo to Canaletto (Art Ebook).pdf

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