MORAZZONE (PierFrancescoMazzuchelli)
1573-162 6
23 Angel Musicians
Black chalk, brown wash, and white gouache height-
ening on blue paper (recto); black chalk (verso); H: 39.5
cm (i5^9 /i6 in.); W: 24.7 cm (9^3 / 4 in.)
86.GG.i6
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Verso) inscribed 164 in
brown ink, N° 8 in red chalk.
PROVENANCE: Sale, Christie's, London, April 3, 1984,
lot 10; art market, London.
EXHIBITIONS: None.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: N. Turner, "Some Unpublished Draw-
ings by Morazzone," Master Drawings 22, no. 4 (Winter
1984), pp. 426-27.
THE ATTRIBUTION OF THIS DRAWING TO MORAZZONE
is due to Turner (1984), who connected it with the ceiling
frescoes of 1599 showing music-making angels in the
vault of the Cappella del Rosario, San Vittore, Varese.^1
Turner noted that although the figures are set in a vertical
rather than a horizontal scheme in the fresco, the basic
architectural frame is similar in drawing and fresco. In
addition the representations of the cello players in both
are alike in facial type. It may well be that Morazzone
used the cello player in the drawing as the basis for the
two figures at the center of the relevant compartment.
Furthermore the lute player at the right of the drawing
reappears with modifications in another section of the
ceiling.^2 There are faint indications of black chalk on the
verso of this sheet.- M. Gregori, // Morazzone, exh. cat. (Villa Comunale del
Mirabello, Varese, 1962), pi. 4. - Ibid., pi. 5.
68 ITALIAN SCHOOL • MORAZZONE