- Museum number
- 1936,1010.8
- Description
-
Head of St Jerome, in profile to right, with long beard, looking down. c.1496/8
Brush drawing in brown ink, heightened with white, on blue paper, silhouetted and mounted on a separate sheet
- Production date
- 1496-1498 (c.)
- Dimensions
-
Height: 252 millimetres
-
Width: 120 millimetres (max)
- Curator's comments
-
Study for the head of St. Jerome in the altarpiece, 'The Madonna of the Orange-Tree', painted for the church of S. Chiara, Murano in c. 1496-8 and now in the Accademia, Venice (Humfrey no. 145). Popham and Pouncey noted that the dimensions of the drawing accord with those of the painting, and suggested that the BM drawing might be a cartoon. As it bears no sign of transfer, like stylus incisions or pricked lines, it is perhaps an 'auxiliary cartoon', ie a detailed drawing used by the painter during the execution of the painting.
The alleged provenance of the drawing that it was bought by John Udny in 1762 from the heirs of Zagredo Sagredo in Venice cannot be proven since the list of work acquired by him is insufficiently detailed in the descriptions and rarely gives the names of the artists, see C. Mazza, 'I Sagredo: commitenti e collezionisti d'arte nella Venezia del Sei e Settecento', Venice, 2004, Doc. 24, pp. 268-71.
Lit.: D. von Hadeln, 'Venezianische zeichnungen des Quattrocent', Berlin, 1925, pl. 74; H. Tietze and E. Tietze-Conrat, 'The Drawings of the Venetian Painters in the 15th and 16th Centuries', New York, 1944, no. 658, p. 161, pl. XLIII, 1; A.E. Popham and P. Pouncey, 'Italian drawings in the BM, the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries', London, 1950, I, no. 40, II, pl. XXXVI (with previous literature); R. Pallucchini, review of Popham and Pouncey 1950 catalogue, "Arte Veneta", V, 1951, p. 196; L. Coletti, 'Cima da Conegliani', Venice, 1959, p. 76; L. Menegazzi, 'Cima da Conegliano', Treviso, 1981, p. 147, fig. 216; P. Humfrey, 'Cima de Conegliano', Cambridge, 1983, no. 194, pl. 58
-
Popham & Pouncey 1950
Study for the head of S. Jerome in the altar-piece in the Venice Academy (no. 815) known as the 'Madonna dell' arancio', painted for S. Chiara, Murano. This altar-piece is dated c. 1496 by R. Burckhardt, 'Cima da Conegliano', 1905, p. 32; by Hadeln ('Burlington', xlix (1926), p. 3) between 1489 and 1493. The head in the drawing is exactly the same size as that in the picture. It seems probable therefore that this sheet served as a cartoon.
Literature: Original Drawings by Old Masters of the Schools of North Italy in the Collection of J. P. H(eseltine), 1906, no. 9 (repr.); Hadeln, Quattrocento, 1925, pl. 74; A. E. Popham, Italian Drawings exhibited at the Royal Academy . . . 1930, 1931, no. 173, pl. CXLVIII; the same, B.M.Q., xi (1936/7), p. 128, pl. XXXVIIa; Van Marle, xvii (1935), p. 460; Tietzes, no. 658 (pl. XLIII, 1).
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1930, RA, 'Italian Art', no. 173
1972, BM, 'The Art of Drawing', No. 113
2003/4 Oct-Jan, London, Hayward Gallery, 'Saved!100 Years of the National Art Collections Fund', no.51
- Acquisition date
- 1936
- Acquisition notes
- Popham & Pouncey 1950
According to Heseltine (loc. cit. infra) the drawing came from the Sunderland Collection (Sale, Christie's, 1883,15 June, possibly lot 113). In the catalogue of this sale the collection is said to have belonged to John Udny, who bought it in 1763 from the heirs of Zaccaria Sagredo, who had acquired it from the Bonfiglioli of Bologna not later than 1728 (cf. Bottari-Ticozzi, 'Raccolta di lettere', 1822, ii, p. 186).
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1936,1010.8
