- Museum number
- 1886,1012.540
- Description
-
Henri IV of France signing the ratification of his abjuration before Alessandro de Medici; a man at left holding an inkwell, five other men standing behind including one at left with a sword
Pen and brown ink, with brown wash, over black chalk, left edge squared for transfer
- Production date
- 1610
- Dimensions
-
Height: 207 millimetres
-
Width: 276 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- A finished study for the chiaroscuro painting, now in the Uffizi deposit, which is one of a series of twenty-six scenes (sixteen of which survive) from the life of King Henry IV of France that were part of the funeral decorations erected in his honour in 1610 in the church of San Lorenzo, Florence (for an account of this project see Borsook 1969-70, pp. 201-34). The scene shows the King making peace with the Church in the Tuileries on 19 September 1596 in front of Cardinal Gondi and Alessandro de' Medici (papal nunzio and later Pope Leo XI). The decorations were commissioned by Grand Duke Cosimo II, who was related to Henry through his cousin Maria de' Medici the widow of the assassinated monarch, and the project was overseen by Giulio Parigi. The leading Florentine painters of the day including Poccetti, Biliverti and Matteo Rosselli contributed canvases to the cycle, and the compositions of all of the twenty-six works were engraved by Alovisio Rosaccio in Giuliano Giraloli's 1610 pictorial record of the event. The BM drawing was probably preceded by a sketchier treatment of the composition in the Uffizi (959 F; Borsook fig. 25); a weaker, and perhaps studio, version of the present work is in the Musée National du Château, Pau (82-14-1; see Perot). Blunt suggested that the BM drawing might be for another cycle planned but not executed by Maria de' Medici, but there seems no good reason to divorce it from the 1610 commission. It is very close to the finished canvas, and is either a 'modello' or a copy made by the artist as a record of the work.
Lit: A. Blunt, 'A Series of Paintings illustrating the History of the Medici Family executed for Marie de' Medici', 'The Burlington Magazine', CIX, September 1967, p. 566, n. 15; E. Borsook, 'Art and Politics at the Medici Court IV: Funeral Decor for the Henry IV of France', "Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz", I-IV, 1969-70, p. 222, n. 62 (as a copy); J. Perot, "Bulletin de la Société des Amis du Château de Pau, xxiv, 1983, pp. 16f.; N. Turner, exhib. cat., London, BM, 'Florentine Drawings of the Sixteenth Century', 1986, no. 199 (with further literature).
Turner, Florentine Drawings of the Sixteenth Century, London, 1986
1886,1012.540 was formerly placed with the drawings by Cigoli until Popham transferred it in 1940 to those by Empoli after noting its correspondence, in reverse and with several differences, to one of the twenty-six engravings by Alovisio Rosaccio in Giuliano Giraldi's, 'Esequie d' Arrigo quarto, Cristianissimo Re di Francia, e di Navarra Celebrate in Firenze dal Serenissimo Don Cosimo II Granduca di Toscana', Florence, 1610, p. 36. The ratification represented in the drawing took place at the Tuileries on 19 September 1596 in front of Cardinal Alessandro de' Medici, known as the 'Cardinal de Florence', who was later elected Pope Leo XI.
Henry IV was assasinated in Paris on 14 May 1610. In order to commemorate the death of his cousin by marriage, Cosimo II arranged for the celebration of his obsequies in the Medici church of S. Lorenzo. The event also served to underscore the legitimacy of the regency of his cousin 'Marie de Medicis' and thus to confirm the succession of her son, Louis XIII (see Bertelà-Petrioli Tofani).
For the occasion the interior of the church was decorated with twenty-six large canvases in chiaroscuro representing deeds from the life of the deceased. The painting corresponding to 1886,1012.540, after Empoli by an anonymous Florentine, is one of sixteen of the twenty-six that survive (Uffizi Gallery, on deposit at the Pitti Gallery: see Borsook, p. 207). All of them are reproduced in the series of crude engravings by Rosaccio in Giraldi's 'Esequie'. Many of the leading Florentine painters of the time partook in the pictorial decorations of the church, including Poccetti, Bilivert, Matteo Rosselli and others.
Pouncey drew attention to the existence of a more vigorous and less detailed rendering of the British Museum drawing in the Uffizi (inv. no. 959F: note on mount of Gernsheim 2587 in the British Museum); this is in the same sense as the British Museum drawing but is slightly larger and has been squared for transfer across the whole sheet. What appears to be little more than a studio variant of the British Museum drawing is at the Musée National du Château, Pau (inv. no. P. 82-14-1: see Perot, above).
Literature: E. Borsook, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorichen Instituts in Florenz, 1969/70, p. 222, n. 62 (as a copy); J. Perot, Bulletin de la Société des Amis du Château de Pau, xxiv, 1983, pp. 16f.
This drawing was issued as a coloured facsimile by the British Museum in 'Reproductions of Drawings by Old Masters in the British Museum', Part II, Published by the Trustees, in 1891 where it was number XVIII and described there as 'Ludovico Cardi ("Cigoli"), Henry IV of France Signing a Treaty.'
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1986, London, Florentine Drawings of the Sixteenth Century, no 199
- Associated events
- Associated Event: Henri IV signing his abjuration before Alessandro da Medici
- Acquisition date
- 1886
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1886,1012.540
