- Museum number
- 1895,0915.819
- Description
-
A group of saints standing (Catherine, Nicholas and Peter), two male, and one female at left, after Titian
Pen and brown ink, made up around edges and in section to the right of Catherine's head by Mariette
- Production date
- c. 1621-1627
- Dimensions
-
Height: 229 millimetres
-
Width: 188 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The figures are three of the six saints in the lower half of Titian's altarpiece formerly in San Niccolò dei Frari, Venice and now in the Vatican Pinacoteca (H.E. Wethey, 'The Paintings of Titian, I, The Religious Paintings', London, 1969, no. 63, pl. 23). Wethey dates the painting to the period 1520-5. The Tietzes attribution to Palma Giovane, based on the equally unreliable premise that he was responsible for 1895,0915.810 (Palma Vecchio), is without foundation.
It has been proposed (A. Weston-Lewis, Master Drawings, 29, 2021, p. 86, supported by Tico Seifert) that this drawing is by Anthony van Dyck, based on its analogies with the many copies after Titian in Van Dyck's Italian Sketchbook (see 1957,1214.207.1-121) and on the handwriting of the inscription, 'Titian', in the lower left corner. However, as H. Chapman pointed out and M. Royalton-Kisch has also suggested (e-mail, 11/3/2021), while the connection with Van Dyck seems certain, the comparison reveals that the draughtsmanship throughout lacks the nervous fluidity of Van Dyck's penmanship, as is especially evident in the beards, hands, and drapery folds. Royalton-Kisch thinks it more likely that the present drawing and its inscription were closely and somewhat deceptively copied after a lost original by Van Dyck, which most probably belonged to a sketchbook - possibly the Italian Sketchbook itself.
Lit.: J.C. Robinson, 'Descriptive Catalogue of Drawings by the Old Masters, forming the Collection of John Malcolm of Poltalloch, Esq', London, 1876, no. 372 (as Titian); H. Tietze and E. Tietze-Conrat, 'The Drawings of the Venetian Painters in the 15th and 16th Centuries', New York, 1944, no. 984, p. 207 (as Palma Giovane); B. Py, 'Everhard Jabach Collectionneur (1618-1695), Les Dessins de Inventaire de 1695', Paris, 2001, no. 387, pp. 116-17 (with incorrect registration number); P. Rosenberg et al, 'Les Dessins de la collection Mariette: Écoles italienne et espagnole' Paris, 2019, no. I 2046 as after Titian; A. Weston-Lewis, review of Mariette catalogue in Master Drawing 29, 2021, p. 86 (as by Van Dyck).
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1895
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1895,0915.819
