drawing | British Museum

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drawing

Object Type
Museum number: 1946,0713.380
Description: A nude man lying face downwards Black chalk, heightened with white, squared for transfer
Producer name: Drawn by: Jacopo da Pontormo; Formerly attributed to: Battista Naldini
School/style
Production date: 1509-1557
Materials
Technique
Dimensions: Height: 124 millimetres; Width: 339 millimetres
$Inscriptions
Curator's comments: Lit.: A.E. Popham, 'Catalogue of Drawings in the Collection formed by Sir Thomas Phillipps, Bart., F.R.S., now in the possession of his Grandson, T. Fitzroy Phillipps Fenwick of Thirlestaine House, Cheltenham', I, London, 1935, p. 69, no. 1 (as Naldini); N. Turner, in exhib. cat., BM, 'Florentine drawings of the sixteenth century', 1986, no. 104 (with further literature); M. Koshikawa and H. Kurita, in exhib. cat., Tokyo and Nagoya, 'Italian 16th and 17th Century Drawings', 1996, no. 14 Turner, Florentine Drawings of the Sixteenth Century, London, 1986 According to an inscription on the old mount, this drawing was traditionally attributed to Naldini, and it was so catalogued by Popham. Cox Rearick has since pointed out that it is by Pontormo and that the figure corresponds with one drawn indistinctly in the middle ground of a composition study of the 'Israelites drinking Water in the Wilderness' in the Uffizi, Florence (inv. no. 6675F; Cox Rearick 224). The Uffizi drawing, the purpose of which is unknown, is datable c. 1522-5 on stylistic grounds. Two other studies for the same figure are also in the Uffizi (inv. no. 6516F verso and 6558 recto; Cox Rearick 226 and 228). Literature: Popham, Fenwick, Vol. I, p. 69 (Naldini), no. 1; Cox Rearick 232.
Bibliographic references: Phillipps-Fenwick 1935 / Catalogue of drawings in the collection of T Fitzroy Phillipps-Fenwick (p.69(1)); Turner 1986 / Florentine drawings of the sixteenth century (104)
Location: Not on display
Exhibition history: 1977 May-Jun, Hermitage, 'Italian Renaissance', no. 44 1977 Jul-Aug, Moscow, Pushkin Museum, 'Italian Renaissance', no. 44 1980, Adelaide and Melbourne, no. 44 1986, BM, 'Florentine Drawings 16thC', no. 104 1996 Feb-Apr, Tokyo, Nat Mus Western Art, Italian Drawings/BM, no.14 1996 Apr-May, Nagoya, Aichi Pref Mus of Art, Italian Drawings/BM, no.14
Subjects
Acquisition name
Previous owner: Previous owner/ex-collection: Lamberto Gori (perhaps his number in purple ink; See Acquisition Comment); Previous owner/ex-collection: William Young Ottley (his mount; T Philipe, 14.vi.1814/part of lot 874 as Naldini 'Three, on one leaf, single figures, two in red chalk, one draped, sitting, the other lying along - black chalk, stumped' bt ? £0-7-0); Previous owner/ex-collection: Sir Thomas Lawrence (L.2445); Previous owner/ex-collection: Samuel Woodburn (Christie's, 8.vi.1860/part of lot 878 'The Virgin and Child, RONDANI; Paul preaching, POMERANCIO; and others, by J. ROMANO, VANNI, C. FERRI, &c.', 6 in the lot, bt Phillipps £1-11-6); Previous owner/ex-collection: Sir Thomas Phillipps; Previous owner/ex-collection: Thomas Fitzroy Fenwick
Acquisition date: 1946
Acquisition notes: Turner, Florentine Drawings of the Sixteenth Century, London, 1986 Seventeenth or eighteenth-century Florentine collector who numbered his drawings in purple ink, perhaps Lamberto Gori from whom Ottley is known to have acquired drawings.
Department: Prints and Drawings
Registration number: 1946,0713.380