BALDASSARE FRANCESCHINI, CALLED IL VOLTERRANO | Recto: Study of the head of a veiled woman and separate studies of hands holding draperyVerso: Studies of Arms and a hand

Private Collection, France

Hinged to the mount at the upper margin. Overall in good condition, the paper has retained its blue colour. Some light staining around the edges of the sheet. A faint crease in the paper at the upper margin. Chalk remains strong and vibrant.
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The studies drawn on this double-sided sheet, executed in red chalk on blue paper, are preparatory drawings for Volterrano's celebrated altarpiece of Christ on the Road to Calvary, now in the Marchesi Gerini collection in Florence (Fig. 1).¹  The veiled figure on the recto of the sheet is a study for the head of St. Veronica and the four drawings of hands sketched at the upper right are for St Veronica's hands, as she lifts the cloth from the face of Christ.  The drapery studies, drawn just below St. Veronica, are for the cloak of the Virgin, who is depicted at the lower right of the painting.  The verso shows two studies of an arm, which relate to the left arm of the Virgin and a separate study of a hand, which belongs to the figure supporting the cross, at the upper left corner of the painting. In preparation for this commission, Volterrano also executed a bozzetto in oil, which is now housed in the Galleria Corsini, Florence.² Two other drawings relating to Christ on the Road to Calvary are known, the first is a sketch of the entire composition, in red and black chalk, and is very close to the finished oil painting, now in the Albertina, Vienna^.3  The second is a sheet of studies, like the present drawing, with studies of hands holding drapery and studies for Saint Veronica and the Virgin, now in The Uffizi, Florence.⁴

Always visually appealing and more so here, due to the choice of blue paper, Volterrano's studies, often on both sides of the sheet, illustrate his meticulous working methods.   The artist made countless series of drawings in preparation for his works; these range from compositional sketches, rapidly laid down, to studies of single figures, to details scattered across the sheet, as in the present drawing and final modelli.

^1. Gli Ultimi Medici. Il tardo barocco a Firenze, 1670 - 1743, exhib. cat., Detroit, The Detroit Institute of Arts; Florence, Palazzo Pitti, 1974, no. 188b, reproduced
^2.M.C. Fabbri, A. Grassi, R. Spinelli, Volterrano Baldassarre Franceschini (1611-1690), Florence 2013, p. 265, cat. 90b, reproduced
^3. Ibid.,p. 266, fig. 1
^4. Ibid.,p. 266, fig. 2