ROSSO FIORENTINO (Giovanni Battista di Jacopo di Gasparre)
43 Study of a Male Figure
(Empedocles)Red and black chalk, stylus marks throughout; H: 25.1
cm (9^7 /s in.); W: 14.8 cm (5I3/6 in.)
83.GB.26l
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: At bottom left, inscribed
Rosso in red chalk (barely legible).
PROVENANCE: Private collection, Paris; art market,
Paris.
EXHIBITIONS: IIprimato del disegno: Firenze e la Toscana
del Medici nell'Europa del Cinquecento, Palazzo Strozzi,
Florence, 1980, no. 461 (catalogue by L. Berti et al.).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: S. Beguin, "Empedocle, undessinine-
dit de Rosso, Paragone 317-319 (1976), pp. 77-82; E.
Carroll, "A Drawing by Rosso Fiorentino of Judith and
Holofernes," Los Angeles County Museum of Art Bulletin
24 (1978), PP- 25, 36, 40, 42; 46, n. 8; 49.THIS COMPLEX DRAWING WAS FIRST PUBLISHED BY
Beguin, who pointed out that it was used by Boyvin for
his engraving of Empedocles (1976, fig. 68). She also
noted that Boyvin's engraving was, in turn, employed by
Gaspare Oselli in 1563 for an engraving of Saint Roch,
shown facing in the same direction as the figure in Ros-
so's drawing (1976, fig. 69). The crescent moon with rays
of light and the hand of the philosopher pointing upward
to the sun allude specifically to Empedocles, as do the
grave expression and walking stance, which refer to his
exile. Beguin also related the choice of this rare subject
to Rosso's philosophical bent and his involvement with
advanced intellectual currents in France. More complex
is the question of how Oselli came to give this image an
entirely different iconographical meaning. It has been
suggested by Carroll (1978, p. 42) that the Museum's
drawing depicts two personages simultaneously; he sees
Saint Roch's pest mark not only on the print by Oselli
but also on Rosso's drawing (1978, p. 49, n. 49). It is dif-
ficult to be confident that the small circle on the left thigh
is such a mark. Moreover, as both Carroll and Beguin
have stated, Oselli's image derives from Boyvin's print,
not Rosso's drawing, thereby making this detail in the
drawing irrelevant in the context of the Saint Roch print.
The Museum's drawing has been dated to circa
1538-15 40 by Carroll in his thorough analysis of the art-
ist's development. One factor perhaps worth adding to
his views is the relationship between the drawing and
Rosso's Judith and Holofernes, now known only through
Boyvin's engraving (Carroll 1978, fig. 12), which Car-
roll dates to circa 1530-1531. The drapery styles of the
two are remarkably close, as are other details such as the
hair and hands. In both, the protagonists are shown in a
meditative moment that interrupts their action. The fig-
ures are animated by similarly complex patterns of elab-
orate folds and by lively hand gestures. These associa-
tions would indicate that the Museum's drawing and the
\ostjudith and Holofernes were made around the same
time, perhaps in the latter part of the 15305, the dating
Carroll has proposed for the former.108 ITALIAN SCHOOL • ROSSO FIORENTINO