drawing;
album
- Museum number
- 1886,0104.3.219
- Description
-
Raffaello Vanni albums: A seated angel, drawn on top of several smaller, flying angels at the left
Verso: A standing man, obliterated by various thumbnail studies, including an Annunciation, a battle, putti supporting a coat of arms, and a drapery study
Black and white chalk on buff paper
- Production date
- 1642-1649 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 414 millimetres
-
Width: 268 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- The large, single-figure studies on recto and verso are preparatory for Vanni's fresco of the 'Meeting of Rebecca and Eliezer at the Well', one part of a series of frieze decorations in the Palazzo Patrizi, Rome, which were executed between 1642 and 1649 by the Vanni workshop, possibly led by the artist's brother Michelangelo (ill. A.M. Pedrocchi ed., 'Le stanze del tesoriere: la quadreria Patrizi: cultura senese nella storia del collezionismo romano del Seicento', Milan, 2000, p. 26, fig. 5c). The recto study was drawn over some pre-existing sketches, whilst its counterpart on the verso was itself covered with new ideas for all sorts of different projects. Sometimes finding new uses for them decades later, Vanni did not habitually obliterate his studies in this way, although he had no qualms about doing so with drawings for the Palazzo Patrizi frescoes, perhaps because of the heavy workshop involvement in the project.
For further studies for the same fresco, also covered with thumbnail sketches for different projects, see 1886,0104.3.354 (recto and verso). 1886,0104.3.268 is also preparatory for another part of the same decorative scheme. 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
- 1886,0104.3.219