PONTORMO (Jacopo Carucci)
34 Standing Male Nude
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Black, red, and white chalk, squared in black and red
chalk (recto); red chalk (verso); H: 35.1 cm (i3I3/i6 in.);
W: 19.7 cm (y^3 4in.)
85.06.44 0
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: None.
PROVENANCE: Sale, Sotheby's, New York, January 16,
1985, lot 22; art market, London.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.
THIS DRAWING WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE 1985
Sotheby's sale catalogue (lot 22), where it is associated
with Pontormo's studies for the Story of Joseph series
and the San Michele Visdomini altarpiece and is dated to
circa 1514-1519. The red chalk study on the verso, which
is very faintly drawn and appears somewhat rubbed, ren-
ders the same figure with his hands placed in the higher
of the two positions shown on the recto. The sheet may
be from a still earlier phase of the artist's career. G. Smith
has noted^1 that the striking pose of the figure on both
recto and verso closely recalls the onlooker at the left in
the window at the upper part of Sarto's Last Supper in San
Salvi, Florence.^2 The unusual pose, with hands placed on
a horizontal surface and head sharply turned to the right,
recurs in the fresco, as does the profile of the head. Note-
worthy too is the sketchy drawing of the legs, which the
artist knew would never be employed in the fresco. The
higher position of the arms and hands is repeated in Sar-
to's fresco.
Despite the connection with the latter, the Mu-
seum's drawing is clearly by Pontormo. The head on the
recto can be compared with that of the study for Saint
Zachary in the San Ruffillo altarpiece in Florence (Dres-
den, Kupferstichkabinett, inv. c8o recto),^3 while the
spiky fingers can be seen again in a fragmentary study of
the hands of Piero de' Medici (Rome, Gabinetto Na-
zionale delle Stampe, inv. F.C. 133 verso).^4 Equally, the
anatomical character of the Museum's drawing and the
manner in which the forms were rapidly redrawn
throughout are typical of Pontormo's draughtsmanship
during the early part of his career.
The explanation for this apparently anomalous sit-
uation can be found in the documents. Shearman has ar-
gued persuasively that Sarto was paid for work on a car-
toon for the fresco between 1511, when the commission
was given, and I522.^5 It may well be that the Museum's
drawing is a study for this cartoon made by Pontormo
when he was with Sarto's workshop, where he appears
to have been an assistant between 1512 and 1514. This dat-
ing is supported by the sheet's stylistic closeness to the
study of Saint Zachary for the San Ruffillo altarpiece.- This and the following observations concerning the rela-
tionship of the drawing to Sarto's fresco were made in conver-
sation with the author, Malibu, 1985. - S.J. Freedberg, Andrea del Sarto (Cambridge, Mass., 1963),
vol. 2, fig. 174. - J. Cox-Rearick, The Drawings of Pontormo, 2nd edn. (New
York, 1981), no. 3. - Ibid., no. 88.
- J. Shearman, Andrea del Sarto (Oxford, 1965), vol. 2, pp.
254-257.
ANDREA DEL SARTO (Italian, 1486-1530). The Last Supper (de-
ail). Fresco. Florence, San Salvi. Photo courtesy Alinari/Art
esource, New York.t
R88 ITALIAN SCHOOL • PONTORMO