28 Study of the Madonna and
Child
r
Studies of the Madonna with
an Architectural Detail
v
Pen and brown ink; H: 10.2 cm (4 in.); W: 8.6 cm
(3^3 /sin.)
83.GA.26 5MARKS AND INSCRIPTIONS: (Recto) at bottom right
corner, collection mark of Earl Spencer (L. 1532).
PROVENANCE: Earl Spencer (eighteenth century [?]), Al-
thorp; art market, Boston.
EXHIBITIONS: Italy in the Time of Raphael, Fogg Art Mu-
seum, Harvard University, Cambridge, February-
April 1983.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: None.
THIS SHEET IS ONE OF MANY SURVIVING PREPARATORY
drawings for Parmigianino's most famous painting, the
Madonna of the Long Neck (Florence, Uffizi), which was
commissioned late in 1534 but left unfinished at his death.
On the recto of the Museum's drawing the artist was
principally concerned with the relative placement of the
Madonna and Child and with the latter's pose. The Vir-
gin is studied separately in two drawings in the British
Museum, London (inv. 1905-11-10-61/62);* they are
similar to the Museum's study in scale and delicacy of
handling. The pose of the Christ child here is most
closely paralleled in a drawing in the Pierpont Morgan
Library, New York (inv. IV42),^2 and in a lost study,
known through a print.^3
The verso of the Museum's sheet contains a study
for the head of the Virgin at the upper left. She is shown
with her head tilted downward, as in the painting, but
wears a veil that was later discarded. Next to her in the
drawing is a profile study of a woman, who does not ap-
pear in the painting. However, in several of the other
preparatory studies for the composition, female figures,
turned in profile, are seen in the background, and this
quick sketch might be related to them. Lastly, there is a
study of the entablature and columns of the temple at the
lower right of the verso. Parmigianino considered de-
picting this detail in the background of the painting in a
number of ways, but did not choose this solution.1. A. E. Popham, Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino
(New Haven, 1971), nos. 243-244.
2. Ibid., no. 317 recto.- Ibid., no. O.R. 17.
76 ITALIAN SCHOOL • PARMIGIANINO