The Drawings of Michelangelo and His Followers in the Ashmolean Museum

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28 THE DRAWINGS OF MICHELANGELO AND HIS FOLLOWERS IN THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM

have contained the drawings by Michelangelo in question

are O, comprising “ 70 dessins de Raphael, Michelangelo, ̈

Paul V ́eronese et autres excellents maˆıtres, R, 59 dessins

de Titien, Giulio Romano, Michelangelo, Paul Veron ́ ese,`

Guercin et autres, S, 216 dessins de grands maˆıtres” and

“T, 525 dessins de rebut.” The slim commentaries and

general absence of precise identifications of the 120 draw-

ings attributed to Michelangelo in the sale catalogue of

Crozat’s collection might indicate that Mariette did not

wish to draw undue attention to their provenance. Per-

haps Crozat obtained drawings from Jabach’s heirs on the

understanding that their provenance should be concealed

because, presumably, they would legally have been the

property of the crown. This hypothesis would account

for facts that otherwise remain difficult to explain. Thus,

the group of Michelangelo drawings in the Albertina was

acquired almost entire at the posthumous sale of Mariette,

whose own collection did not contain, as far as is known,

any drawings by Michelangelo not previously owned by

Crozat. Because the Albertina group includes a number

of very fine early pen drawings by Michelangelo, among

them BK 118 /Corpus 22 , and because some are directly

en-suite with drawings sold by Jabach to Louis XIV in

1671 ,itisreasonable to infer that they came from the

same series and, therefore, from Jabach himself. But none

of these drawings bears any inscription to indicate Jabach’s

ownership, and none, of course, bears his paraph.

It is probable that Crozat acquired at least some of his

Michelangelo drawings from French vendors other than

Jabach and that not all the Michelangelo drawings that

Mini had owned had necessarily passed to Jabach.15 9

However, in all save one case, drawings known to Prima-

ticcio in the mid-sixteenth century have either remained

in France or have provenances that cannot be traced back

before their appearance in the collections either of Crozat

or of Mariette.^160 And it is less likely that they travelled

out of France only to return, than that they remained

there. Of course, Jabach, Crozat, and Mariette acquired

drawings outside France, so there is no certainty about

what proportion of their collections descended directly

from Mini’s hoard, but, as already remarked, it is more

likely than not that those drawings by Michelangelo dat-

able before 1531 , whose recorded provenances begin in

France, are the relics of the gift to Mini.

Mariette memorably described to A. F. Gori the col-

lection of Pierre Crozat:

Quant aux desseins de Michel-Ange, Monsieur Crozat

possedait presque tout ceux quietaient en France. Il n’y en ́

a que cinq ou six de bons dans la collection du Roy. La

plus grande partie de ceux de Monsieur Crozat venaient de

M. Jabach qui les avoit eus luy-mˆeme d’un Monsieur De la

Noue, excellent curieux. Monsieur Crozat comptait avoir ̈

120 desseins de M. Ange, mais il en avoit un grand nombre

parmy eux qui n’etoient que des copies, ou qui n’ ́ ́etoient que

des croquis peu considerable. Je crois que les vrais et bons

Desseins de M. Ange de sa Collection pouvoient se reduire

a une cinquantaine au plus; mais c’est encore beacoup, vulaˆ

rareted` eces Desseins. Je crois avoir fait choix de meilleurs,

qui sont au nombre de 36.

According to the sale catalogue compiled by Mariette,

Crozat’s collection of Michelangelo drawings did indeed

comprise 120 sheets, divided into thirteen lots (nos. 9 –

21 ), so Mariette obtained over a quarter of his friend’s

holdings, mostly, in all probability, at the sale, although

it cannot be excluded that he purchased others later. But

he was not the sole purchaser of Crozat’s Michelangelos.

AMartyre de S. Etiennewas the single drawing itemised

among the six included in lot 11 in Crozat’s sale. It reap-

peared in the sale of the collection of J. D. Lempereur

some thirty years later on 24 May 1773. These mentions

had aroused little attention, because the subject seemed

unlikely for Michelangelo. However, following the redis-

covery of this grand compositional study, it can now be

seen that both attribution and identification of the sub-

ject were correct, and this raises the possibility that other

drawings listed in Crozat’s sale that are still missing might

yet come to light.^161

Mariette’s own posthumous sale in 1775 – 6 included

some forty drawings by Michelangelo, but these too were

undescribed, surprising in that most of the other drawings

in the sale, by less important masters and of lesser value,

were described quite minutely. The Michelangelos were

sold in eight lots to a reserved clientele, and it may be that

these individuals were provided with personal manuscript

catalogues that have not survived. They fetched high

prices, and there was clearly no fraudulent intent, but

one suspects that their profile was deliberately kept low.

The French Royal Collection profited minimally from

the Mariette sale, at least as far as drawings by Michelan-

gelo are concerned, despite being advised by Lempereur.

The only major purchase was, ironically, a drawing not by

Michelangelo, which, still more ironically, Mariette had

valued above all others: the pen and ink study of a hand

(Inv. 717 /J R 2 /Corpus 93 ; pen and ink,18 0× 286 mm,

byBartolommeo Passerotti). As noted previously, some

of the most beautiful and important Michelangelo

drawings owned by Mariette found their way to the

Albertina and that group integrates neatly with that now

in the Louvre, which, of course, comes mostly from

Jabach and, probably, from Michelangelo’s gift to Mini.