drawing;
album
- Museum number
- 1886,0104.3.204
- Description
-
Raffaello Vanni albums: A standing woman with clasped hands; separate studies of flayed arms and drapery
Verso: A grieving, running woman with arms raised, and a separate study of her head
Black and white chalk on buff paper
- Production date
- 1648-50 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 371 millimetres
-
Width: 277 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- This is one of several studies in the Vanni albums for a Death of Dido painted c. 1648-50 in Rome for the Palazzo Patrizi (ill. A.M. Pedrocchi, 'Le stanze del tesoriere. La quadreria Patrizi: cultura senese nella storia del collezionismo romano del Seicento', Milan, 2000, fig. 176a). The rather statuesque mourner on the recto was not used, with Vanni opting for a more emotionally charged scene - a change reflected in the gesticulating arms drawn on top of the earlier study. The verso study relates to the wailing woman entering the right of the scene. Though she does feature in the finished work, Vanni still made one important change between study and finished picture: perhaps as the number of pictures requested for the Palazzo expanded, or perhaps as Vanni received new information about where his paintings were to be displayed, he changed the direction of light, so that it enters from the left rather than the right. Vanni had made this switch by the time he drew the recto study, suggesting that, though it was not used, it was in fact drawn after the verso.
For one further study of the Dido picture, see 1886,0104.3.171. For a general description of the Vanni workshop albums see 1886,0104.3.1.
G.L.
- Location
- Not on display
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1886,0104.3.204