European Drawings - 1, Catalogue of the Collections

(Darren Dugan) #1

FEDERICO BAROCCI


.

3 The Entombment

Black chalk and oil paint on oiled paper; H: 47.7 cm
(i8I3/i6in.); W: 35.6 cm (14 in.)
85.00.26 (SEE PLATE 3)
MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at bottom left, col-
lection mark of William, second duke of Devonshire
(L. 718) (two impressions); (verso) inscribed P.25 in
brown ink.
PROVENANCE: William, second duke of Devonshire,
Chatsworth; by descent to the current duke (sale, Chris-
tie's, London, July 3, 1984, lot 2); art market, Munich.
EXHIBITIONS: Exhibition of Italian Art 1200-1900, Royal
Academy of Arts, London, 1930, no. 818. Bristol Uni-
versity, 1936, no. 892. Mostra di Federico Barocci, Museo
Civico, Bologna, September-November 1975, no. 113
(catalogue by A. Emiliani). The Graphic Art of Federico
Barocci, Cleveland Museum of Art and Yale University
Art Gallery, New Haven, February-June 1978, no. 41
(catalogue by E. P. Pillsbury).
BIBLIOGRAPHY: E. Habich, "Handzeichnungen italien-
ischerMeister," Kunstchronik (July 21, 1892), p. 545, no.
58; S. A. Strong, Reproductions of Drawings by Old Masters
in the Collection of the Duke of Devonshire at Chatsworth
(London, 1902), p. 15, no. 63; A. Schmarsow, "Federico
Baroccis Zeichnungen: Eine kritische Studie," Abhand-
lungenderphilologisch-historischenKlasse, vol. 30. Abhand-
lungen der Koniglichen Sachsischen Gesellschaft der
Wissenschaften, vol. 64 (Leipzig, 1914), pt. 3B, p. 41, no
i; J. Q. van Regteren Altena and R. van Marie, Ital-
iaansche Kunst in Nederlandsch Bezit, exh. cat., Stedelijk
Museum, Amsterdam, 1934, p. 133, under no. 470; T. P.
Baird, "Two Drawings Related to Baroccis Entomb-
ment," Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 9,
no. i (1950), p. 14; H. Olsen, Federico Barocci: A Critical
Study in Italian Cinquecento Painting (Uppsala, 1955), p.
133; idem, Federico Barocci (Copenhagen, 1962), p. 171;
G. G. Bertela, Disegni di Federico Barocci, exh. cat., Ga-
binetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, Florence, 1975, p.
50, under no. 42; E. Pillsbury, "Barocci at Rome and
Florence" (review), Master Drawings 14, no. i (Spring
1976), p. 62; A. Emiliani, Federico Barocci (Urbino 1535-

1612) (Bologna, 1985), vols. i, p. 159; 2, p. 444; D.
DeGrazia, "Refinement and Progression of Baroccis
Entombment: The Chicago Modello," Museum Studies 12,
no. i (Fall 1985), pp. 35, 36, 38.

THE PREPARATORY PROCESS FOR BAROCCl's ENTOMB-
ment altarpiece has been convincingly established by
Pillsbury (1978, pp. 63-66), who has suggested that the
Museum's study was based upon a highly finished pen-
and-ink drawing (Pillsbury 1978, no. 40) in the Art In-
stitute of Chicago (inv. 1983.8). In the Museums draw-
ing Barocci has carefully evaluated the tonal values and
painterly effect of the composition while leaving the de-
velopment of its color for the oil modello in the Galleria
Nazionale, Urbino. Although the Museum's drawing is
very close to the final painting in most respects, it and the
pen-and-ink drawing in Chicago differ from the paint-
ing, the modello in Urbino, and a chalk study in the Royal
Collecton, The Hague, in the abbreviation of their fore-
ground areas. In addition the figure of Saint Mary Mag-
dalene was left unfinished in the Museum's drawing.
Pillsbury (1978, p. 64) has suggested that this may have
been due to the artist's intention to study this figure in an
"auxiliary cartoon," now in a French private collection
(DeGrazia 1985, p. 37, fig. 9). These differences from the
final painting, as well as the exceptionally high quality of
the Museum's drawing, render the doubts about its at-
tribution expressed by Schmarsow (1914) and Olsen
(1955, p. 133; 1962, p. 171) unsupportable.^1

i. For additional drawings related to the same project, see Ol-
sen 1962, pp. 171-172; Emiliani 1975, pp. 118-121; Pillsbury
1978, pp. 63-66.

24 ITALIAN SCHOOL • BAROCCI

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