- Museum number
- 1918,0615.2
- Description
-
Studies for a Christ in a Transfiguration; including a nude figure at r, seen from behind
Pen and brown ink
Verso: Studies for a recumbent man attacked by two animals
Pen and brown ink
Pouncey & Gere 1962
[See Pouncey & Gere 1962, cat. no. 217]
Recto
'A', 'B', 'G', and 'H'. Studies for a Christ in a 'Transfiguration' standing on a cloud, 'C'. A right arm. 'D', 'E', and 'F'. Three left arms ; in 'E' the forearm is sharply foreshortened and a rolled-up sleeve is shown. 'I'. A man seen from behind standing on his 1. leg ; alternative positions for his r. leg are given.
Verso
'J'. An animal, probably a monkey, 'K', 'L', 'M', 'O', 'P', 'Q', 'S', and 'U'. Studies of a nude man lying on his back; in 'L', 'M', 'Q', and 'U' he lies on a rock; in 'L' and 'U' two animals (recognizable in 'U' as a dog, below, and a bear, above) are attacking him. 'N'. (upside down) A fragment of grotesque decoration, 'R'. An oval escutcheon 'paly of six' surrounded by a scroll-work frame and surmounted by a large helmet, 'T'. A rough sketch of what appears to be a leg as in 'W' seen from the front, 'V'. An escutcheon bearing the same charge as in 'R'. 'W'. A bent leg in profile.
- Production date
- 1530-1535 (circa)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 217 millimetres
-
Width: 157 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- For the 'Transfiguration' commission studied on the recto of this sheet see the commentary for 1936,1010.3.
The studies on the verso include one of a man being torn apart by a bear and a dog which is known in a more complete and finished form in Polidoro's drawing from c. 1530-34 in the Louvre (10703; Leone de Castris D 239, fig. 367) and from one formerly in the collection of Richard Cosway known through a Metz engraving (as by Giulio).
Lit: P.Pouncey and J.A. Gere, 'Italian drawings in the BM, Raphael and his circle', London, 1962, I, no. 217, II, pls. 188, 189; A. Marabottini, 'Polidoro da Caravaggio', Rome, 1969, I, nos. 160, 161, II, pls. LII, 1, CXIV, 1; L. Ravelli, 'Polidoro Caldara da Caravaggio', Bergamo, 1978, no. 179, 233; P. Leone de Castris, in exhib. cat., Naples, Capodimonte, 'Polidoro da Caravaggio fra Napoli e Messina', 1988, no. IX.5, p. 112; P. Leone de Castris, 'Polidoro da Caravaggio, l'opera completa', Naples, 2001, no. D 125, figs. 366 (verso) and 408 (recto) (with further literature); D. Franklin, 'Polidoro da Caravaggio', New Haven and London, 2018, pp. 92 and 111, fig. 4.3 (recto) and 4.27 (verso)
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1962/3 Nov-Sep, BM, Raphael and his Circle (P+G)
1978, BM, Gainsborough and Reynolds in the BM, no.214
1988/9, Naples, Capodimonte, 'Polidoro', no. IX.5
- Acquisition date
- 1918
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1918,0615.2
