FRA BARTOLOMMEO (Baccio dellaPorta)
5 Madonna and Child with Saint
Black chalk, traces of white chalk; H: 37.4 cm (i4^3 / 4 in.
W: 28.2cm(iiI/ 8 in.)
85.GB.288
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: None.
PROVENANCE: Skene collection; John Postle Heseltine
London; Henry Oppenheimer, London (sale, Christie's
London, July 10, 1936, lot 26); private collection, Swit
zerland; art market, London.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: B. Berenson, The Drawings of the Flor
entine Painters (London, 1903), vol. 2, p. 21, no. 434
(1938), p. 38, no. 428A; (1961), p. 38, no. 428A; C
Gamba, "Un disegno di Fra Bartolommeo nella raccolt
Heseltine," Rivista d'arte 8 (1912), pp. 15-18; Origina
Drawings by Old Masters of the Italian School, forming pa
of the Collection ofj. P. Heseltine (London, 1913), no. 12
H. von der Gabelentz, Fra Bartolommeo und dieflorentine
Renaissance (Leipzig, 1922), vols. i, pp. 159-161; 2, pp
133-134, no. 310. 's
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.IN 1510 FRA BARTOLOMMEO WAS COMMISSIONED TO
paint an altarpiece with the Madonna and Child and
saints for the Sala del Gran Consiglio of the Palazzo Vec-
chio, Florence; the altarpiece was to be placed between
the frescoes showing the battle of Anghiari and the battle
of Cascina by Leonardo and Michelangelo. The altar-
piece was left unfinished, though Fra Bartolommeo was
still working on it in 1515. Later placed in the church of
San Lorenzo and then in the Uffizi, the uncolored paint-
ing is now in the Museo di San Marco, Florence.
The Museum's sheet is the most complete and elab-
orate study for the altarpiece, though it differs from it in
a number of minor details. For example, there are five
rather than four saints on either side of the throne in the
painting. The Museum's drawing was preceded by many
others, including an earlier and very different composi-
tional study in the Musee Wicar, Lille (inv. 397). There
is also a closely related drawing of the lower two-thirds
of the scene in the Uffizi (inv. 12O4E), in which the figures
are studied as nudes.^1 The Museum's drawing elaborates
the composition developed in the Uffizi sheet and goes
on to carefully indicate areas of light and shadow. Its
emphasis on chiaroscuro reflects the generic influence of
Leonardo.i. Other drawings for this project are listed in Gabelentz 1922 ,
vol. i, pp. 160-161.28 ITALIAN SCHOOL • FRA BARTOLOMMEO