European Drawings - 1, Catalogue of the Collections

PIETRO TESTA

47 Holy Family with Saint Anne

r

Figure Sketches

v

Pen and brown ink, brown wash, and black chalk (recto);

faint black and red chalk (verso); H: 37.2 cm (i4II/i6 in.);

W: 25.2cm(9I5/i6in.)

84.GA.5i

MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at bottom right

corner, inscribed di Piet Testa in graphite.

PROVENANCE: E. Knight, London; art market, London.

EXHIBITIONS: None.

BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.

THIS DRAWING IS RELATED TO TWO FURTHER COM-

positional studies in the Pierpont Morgan Library, New

York (inv. iv. 180.0) and in the Prado, Madrid (inv.

F.D.982).^1 There are also smaller studies of the angels in

the Louvre, Paris (inv. 1888), and for Saint Anne and the

Christ child in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm (inv.

NM536). As has been noted by Perez Sanchez and A. S.

Harris,^2 the format of the Prado drawing, with its round

top, indicates that it was made in preparation for an al-

tarpiece rather than for a print. It appears very likely that

the Museum's drawing is the earliest of the three com-

positional studies since it is lacking in background detail

and is the least finished. The details studied in the Paris

and Stockholm sketches show that they were made in re-

lation to the Museum's drawing and not to the Morgan

Library or Prado sheets. The Morgan Library drawing

would seem to have followed, since it is based upon the

Museum's study in significant areas such as the place-

ment and poses of the three principal figures. Lastly, the

Prado drawing, which incorporates numerous changes

from the other two and which alone is rounded at the top,

represents the final stage in the evolution of the com-

position. Harris has dated the project to circa 1645 -1650.

1. A. Perez Sanchez, I grandi disegni italiani nelle collezione di
   Madrid (Milan, 1978), fig. 25.


2. Ibid., p. 259; conversation with the previous owner.

Il 6 ITALIAN SCHOOL • TESTA