European Drawings - 1, Catalogue of the Collections

ANDREA DEL SARTO

i Study of a Kneeling Figure with

aSketchofaFace

r

Figure Study and Face

v

Red chalk, black chalk sketch efface (recto); red chalk

(verso); sheet torn horizontally and repaired; H: 27. 2 cm

(iojl/i6in.); W: 19.8 cm (yI3/i6in.)

84.06. 7

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at top, right of

center, inscribed jp = in black chalk superimposed on 95

in red chalk.

PROVENANCE: Art market, Lausanne.

EXHIBITIONS: None.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: J. Shearman, "Andrea del Sarto's Two
Paintings of the Assumption," Burlington Magazine 101,
no. 673 (April 1959), p. 129; B. Berenson, Idisegnideipit-
tor ifi or entini (Milan, 1961), vol. 2, p. 34, no. 161 A-I; S. J.
Freedberg, Andrea del Sarto (Cambridge, Mass., 1963),
vol. i, p. 118 ; R. Monti, Andrea del Sarto (Milan, 1965),
p. 170; J. Shearman, Andrea del Sarto (Oxford, 1965), vol.
2, p. 386; A. Petrioli Tofani, in M. Chiarini et al., Andrea
del Sarto 1486-1530, exh. cat., Palazzo Pitti, Florence,
1986, pp. 188; 267, under no. 56.

THE RECTO OF THIS SHEET WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN

1959 by Shearman, who correctly identified the kneeling

figure as a study for the apostle in the left foreground of

the Panciatichi Assumption (Florence, Palazzo Pitti). The

pose derives from Sarto's kneeling Saint Sebastian in the

Disputa (circa 1518; Florence, Pitti) and the related draw-

ing in the UfRzi (inv. 6918 F; Shearman 1965, vol. i, pis.

66a, b). It was used again later in the Passerini Assumption

in the Pitti. This appears to be an instance in which Sarto

altered and developed an idea first conceived in relation

to the earlier Panciatichi Assumption. The brief sketch of

a face on the recto may have been made in relation to one

of the apostles in that painting, but is not clearly the

model for any of them.

The verso has never been published. The principal

image of the standing nude figure with drapery is a study

for the Saint Thomas in the Panciatichi Assumption and

was employed later for the same saint in the Passerini As-

sumption. In fact the raised left arm is closer to the cor-

responding detail of the later painting. Contiguous to the

figure is a form that appears to be bunched drapery. In

addition there are two male heads, later crossed out by

the artist. The one at the upper right bears some resem-

blance to the apostle for which the recto was drawn.

Based on Shearman's accurate dating of the Panciatichi

Assumption, the drawing should be placed in 1522-1523.

It is stylistically in accord with other drawings of this pe-

riod, including several for the same project, though it

shows a somewhat greater than usual concern for the

monumental rendering of muscular structure.^1

i. For the other drawings related to the Panciatichi Assumption,

see Freedberg 1963, vol. i,pp. 115-118, no. 52; Shearman 1965,

vol. 2, p. 253, no. 64.

ANDREA DEL SARTO • ITALIAN SCHOOL 19