- Museum number
- 1895,0915.755
- Description
-
Study for Adam; seated to right, looking to front, holding fruit in his left hand, oval
Pen and brown ink, with brown wash
Verso: Figure studies, including Moses and a cornice
Pen and brown ink
- Production date
- 1518-1540
- Dimensions
-
Height: 115 millimetres
-
Width: 42 millimetres (corners cut)
- Curator's comments
- Lit.: J.C. Robinson, 'Descriptive Catalogue of Drawings by the Old Masters, forming the Collection of John Malcolm of Poltalloch, Esq.', London, 1876, no.311; A.E. Popham, 'Italian drawings in the BM, artists working in Parma', London, 1967, London, I, no. 129, II, pl. 108 B; A.E. Popham, 'Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino', Cambridge, 1971, no. 232
Popham 1967
The original relative position of these three fragments is established by the drawing of the cornice on the verso. The three recto studies are reproduced together, in reverse and in the reverse order, in an engraving by Andrea Zucchi (Weigel 5379, wrongly said to be by A. Faldoni) dated 1723, when in the Zanetti Collection, and an etching by Rosaspina when in the Gini collection (B.M. 1851,0308.838). They were also aquatinted by Rosaspina in the same direction but in the reverse order (B.M. 1919,0415.431). This last has a border like those surrounding Rosaspina's facsimiles of drawings in the Armano Collection. In an unsigned aquatint (B.M. 1851,0308.835) the two outermost figures (1895,0915.755 and 1895,0915.754) are reproduced in reverse order, but for the centre figure one of Moses is substituted, taken from the sheet of studies formerly in the Ingram Collection and now in the Metropolitan Museum (62.135; Popham, 'Parmigianino', pl. lvi).
The three drawings on the recto are studies for the figure at the northern end of the innermost (i.e. western) arch of the eastern arm of the Steccata. None of them corresponds exactly with the fresco as carried out, which combines motifs from 1895,0915.755 and 1895,0915.756, the position of the upper part of the body and the arms corresponding with 1895,0915.755, that of the legs with 1895,0915.756. The Moses on 1895,0915.755 verso is a discarded conception, in which the prophet was represented at rest as in the drawing at Parma (510/1; Freedberg, fig. l07b). The reclining figure on the same fragment may be for one of those between the rosoni. The other fragmentary figure on 1895,0915.756 verso is probably for the figure of Daniel in the lions' den (see 1905,1110.36; 1905,1110.37; 1905,1110.40; 1905,1110.38; 1946,0713.441* and 1905,1110.44).
Literature: P. Ireneo Affò, Vita . . . del. . . Parmigianino, Parma, 1784, p. 50; J.C.R. 311; Quintavalle, p. 199; Freedberg, p. 195.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
2013 Feb-May, Montpellier, Musée Fabre, L'atelier de l'oeuvre
- Acquisition date
- 1895
- Acquisition notes
- Engraved by A Zucchi while in Zanetti's colln. Owned by Armano (?) - Rosapina's facsimile has a border like those surrounding his facsimiles of drawings in the Armano colln. Etched by Rosapina while in Gini's colln.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1895,0915.755