Raffaellino del Garbo, Studies for Christ Rising from the Tomb and Hand Studies

Italy, around AD 1497

This beautiful drawing was made from the model in metalpoint on blue-grey paper. The nude boy poses as the Risen Christ, his right hand raised in blessing, while his left hand holds the banner of the Resurrection. To either side of the figure are two separate studies of hands. Del Garbo (1466-1524) used cross-hatching to suggest shading, particularly on the right side of the body and inside the drapery. The model's body, too, is a superb study of light and shade with touches of white to suggest the fall of light. Raffaellino's assured handling of the exacting medium of silverpoint is similar to that of his master Filippino Lippi.

The elaborate mount and frame in pen and brown ink and brown wash was drawn by the artist-biographer, architect and collector, Giorgio Vasari. He attributed the drawing with an inscription at the foot of the drawing, recognizing it as a study for a figure of Christ in the Resurrection of around 1497 (now in the Galleria Accademia, Florence), formerly in the Capponi Chapel in S. Bartolomeo a Monte Oliveto.

A.E. Popham and P. Pouncey, Italian drawings in the Depa-5 (London, The British Museum Press, 1950)

J. Rowlands, Master drawings and watercolou (London, The British Museum Press, 1984)

G. Goldner and C. Bambach, The drawings of Filippino Lipp (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997)