- Museum number
- 1895,0915.445
- Description
-
The Presentation of the Virgin; interior courtyard of the temple, with groups of figures standing beneath a colonnade and Zacharias at r
Pen and brown ink, with watercolour, heightened with white
- Production date
- 1491
- Dimensions
-
Height: 204 millimetres
-
Width: 277 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- After a fresco of the 'Visitation', now in the Biblioteca Comunale, Castelfiorentino executed in 1491 by the aged Gozzoli and two assistants, possibly his sons. This and drawing in Munich (Degenhart and Schmitt no. 484, pl. 344a) are by same hand.
Lit.: J.C. Robinson, 'Descriptive Catalogue of Drawings by the Old Masters, forming the Collection of John Malcolm of Poltalloch, Esq.', London, 1876, no. 9 (as Ascribed to Neri di Bicci); A.E. Popham and P. Pouncey, 'Italian drawings in the BM, the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries', London, 1950, I, no. 92, II, pl. LXXXVII (with previous literature); B. Degenhart and A. Schmitt, 'Corpus der italienischen Zeichnungen, 1300-1450, Süd-und Mittelitalien', Berlin, 1968, I-2, no. 484, II-4, pl. 344c; D. Cole Ahl, 'Benozzo Gozzoli', New Haven and London, 1996, p. 191-2, under cat. no. 8, fig. 255 (with incorrect registration no.)
Popham & Pouncey 1950
Robinson, who records an attribution in Richardson's hand to Neri di Bicci, himself catalogues the drawing as "ascribed to Neri di Bicci". Berenson has pointed out ('L'Arte', loc. cit., and in his second edition) that the composition corresponds in almost every particular with one of Benozzo's frescoes in the Cappella della Visitazione, now attached to the Conservatorio di S. Chiara, outside Castelfiorentino, which he plausibly dates about 1484 on account of their resemblance in style to those in the neighbouring Cappella della Tosse, which has a dedicatory inscription with the date Dec. 1484 on its façade. Although he catalogues the drawing under Benozzo's name, he suggests ('Text', p. 330) that it may, in fact, be from the hand of the assistant whom he names Alunno di Benozzo. The quality of the drawing is certainly weak and the types of the figures seem to be fairly close to those in drawings connected with pictures by this anonymous artist. It is inconceivable that Benozzo, even towards the end of his career, should have been so inept and coarse in his handling.
Berenson has discovered that a drawing by the same hand, at Munich (BB 544 c, fig. 42), is connected with another fresco in the Cappella della Visitazione, representing the 'Expulsion of Joachim from the Temple'.
Literature: JCR 9; BB 543; Van Marle, op. cit., p. 224; Berenson, L'Arte, xxxv (1932), p. 95 (repr.).
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1895
- Acquisition notes
- According to Robinson, R. Mead and J. Barnard were former owners.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1895,0915.445
