European Drawings - 1, Catalogue of the Collections

FRANCESCO PRIMATICCIO

36 Vulcan at His Forge

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, and white gouache

heightening, squared in black chalk; H: 25 cm (9^7 /8 in.);

W: 14 cm (5 ^ in.)

84.GA.5 4

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at bottom right

corner, unidentified collection mark D; (verso) on

mount, collection mark of Desneux de la Noue

(L. 3014).

PROVENANCE: Desneux de la Noue, Paris; sale, Hotel

Drouot, Paris, March 2, 1984, lot 23.

EXHIBITIONS: None.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Beguin, J. Guillaume, and A. Roy,
La Galerie d'Ulysse a Fontainebkau (Paris, 1985), pp. 70,
135, 137.

THIS DRAWING WAS MADE AS A PREPARATORY STUDY

for one of the ceiling paintings in the second bay of the

Galerie d'Ulysse in the royal palace at Fontainebleau, as

was first pointed out by Beguin.^1 The gallery was entirely

destroyed in 1739, and our knowledge of it depends upon

preparatory drawings, copies, and written descriptions.

The painted decoration was designed by Primaticcio, but

its execution was left to Nicolo dellAbate and other

younger artists. Although work on the gallery began in

1537, its decoration was not started until at least 1541. It

is possible, though not demonstrable, that this and some

of the other preparatory studies date from 1541-1543, a

period between trips Primaticcio made to Italy.

The scene of Vulcan at his forge was situated at one

of the four corners of the ceiling of the second bay, with

depictions of Minerva, Mercury, and Eole at the other

corners, all in rectangular formats. At the center of the

ensemble was the octagonal painting of Neptune releas-

ing the storm, with Venus, Amor and Cupid and Vertumnus

and Pomona on either side in oval fields. Stylistically, the

study of Vulcan is closest to drawings of Minerva and

Mercury in the Louvre, Paris (inv. 8525, 8529 ; Beguin,

Guillaume, and Roy 1985, p. 135, figs, n, 13). The rather

smooth texture and broken, twisting outline are com-

mon to all three drawings, as is the almost notational

character of the interior modeling.

i. A full account of historical, documentary, and stylistic issues

concerning the gallery is offered by Beguin, Guillaume, and

Roy (1985).

94 ITALIAN SCHOOL • PRIMATICCIO