drawing
- Museum number
- 1949,0212.4
- Description
-
A young man; whole-length, turned to right, looking over his right shoulder, both arms raised
Oiled black chalk and white chalk, on grey-buff paper, made up at r
Verso: St Francis half-kneeling to left, his arms crossed over his chest, looking up
Oiled black chalk and white chalk
- Production date
- 1577-1602
- Dimensions
-
Height: 570 millimetres
-
Width: 414 millimetres (approx)
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- The recto is a study, probably from the life, for one of the apostles in the painting of the 'Assumption of the Virgin' of c.1599-1601 in the church of Santa Maria dei Servi, Bologna (Negro and Roio, no. 32, pp. 112-14). Another study for the figure in the same technique as this drawing is in the Faccini album in Berlin (Negro and Roio, fig. 32c, p. 113). A list of preparatory drawings is given in Negro and Roio, pp. 113-14.
The figure of Saint Francis on the verso is a study for a lost painting of 'Christ and the Virgin appearing to Saint Francis', the composition of which is known known through a 'bozzetto' in the Louvre (Negro and Roio, no. 12, pp. 90-2). The pose of the saint in the Louvre painting differs from this study only in the turn of the head. In the drawing the saint is shown kneeling on a raised platform a feature also found in the finished work. Negro and Roio date the Louvre painting to c.1589-90 but, unless it is assumed that the recto and verso studies were drawn at different periods which seems highly unlikely, it must be closer in date to the work in Bologna. Stéphane Loire's dating of the Louvre painting to c.1602 is more plausible, S. Loire, 'École Italienne, XVIe Siècle I. Bologne', Paris, 1996, p. 220.
Lit: E. Negro and N. Roio, 'Pietro Faccini', Modena, 1998, under no. 32, p. 114
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1949
- Acquisition notes
- This item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45. The British Museum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1949,0212.4
