Girolamo Francesco Maria Mazzola, called Parmigianino

With Hazlitt, Gooden and Fox, London, 1991, no. 7; acquired in 1994 

D. Ekserdjian, 'Unpublished Drawings by Parmigianino: Towards a Supplement to Popham's catalogue raisonné', Apollo, August 1999, p. 14, cat. no. 19, fig. 25
idem, 'Parmigianino and the Entombment', Coming About...A Festschrift for John Shearman, Cambridge 2001, pp. 165-172, reproduced p. 166, fig.1;
S. Béguin, M. di Giampaolo and M. Vaccaro, Parmigianino: The Drawings, Turin 2000, p. 200, no. 38, reproduced p. 233

Sold mounted and framed in a modern wooden gilded frame. Window mounted. There are some very small holes around the edges of the sheet, all repaired but one tiny pin-prick hole at the lower left, which is barely visible. There is some surface dirt at the edges of the sheet, but otherwise the paper is clear and the chalk is still strong.
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This drawing was the subject of a detailed article by David Ekserdjian on the theme of the Entombment (see Literature). He dates it on stylistic grounds to the beginning of Parmigianino's Roman period (1524-27), and points out the close relationship with two lost drawings, known only from reproductions: one, very close to the present sheet, known from a lithograph published by Popham, and the other a more evolved variant known from a reproduction made by Anton Maria Zanetti in 1725, when it was in the collection of William Esdaile.¹ One of the noticeable differences between those drawings and the present sheet is the figure of the bearded man with his head in profile, Joseph of Arimathea, who supports Christ with his right arm while holding a torch with his left.  The light coming from the torch suggests a night scene, a theme which fascinated the artist. The two other figures in the drawing must be Mary Magdalene and one of the other two Marys. As Ekserdjian points out, there is a possible link with Raphael's Il Compianto, of 1507, which also shows the transportation of Christ to the tomb.  The figure of the Magdalene, who seems to hold the left hand of the dead Christ, is also close to Raphael's solution.  

The Horvitz drawing represents an early stage in the evolution of Parmigianino's composition of the Entombment, which is known in two etchings facing in opposite directions, B.xviii and B.xvi (figs 1-2).
 Konrad Oberhuber was the first to propose that both prints are by Parmigianino and that B. xviii, previously attributed to Guido Reni, must have preceded the other.  Parmigianino made a total of seventeen prints, all rather experimental, and apparently produced during a very short period of the artist's career. The Entombment is considered the most elaborate and grandest of his etchings. David Landau made the fascinating point that the reason for producing two versions of the same composition seems to have been the damage inflicted on the first copper plate as a result of Parmigianino's technical inexperience.² The rethinking of the first etched composition led to some important changes, such as in the figure of Joseph of Arimathea, whose left arm is raised, holding the crown of thorns above Christ's head -- a gesture that very effectively draws the viewer into the scene.

For this project Parmigianino made many drawings,³ of which around twenty-five are known, as well as one oil sketch on panel, formerly in the Suida-Manning Collection and now in the Jack S. Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, Texas (first accepted as an autograph work, related to the two versions of the etching, by David Landau).⁴ The drawings, which range from quick sketches to full compositional studies, demonstrate Parmigianino's commitment to the realization of an ambitious and experimental work. The fact that he also executed a monochrome oil sketch for the composition supports the idea that he was thinking in terms of making a print, perhaps even a chiaroscuro woodcut.  The precise relationship between the oil sketch and the etchings has, however, been the subject of scholarly debate. ⁵  According to David Ekserdjian it is most likely that the panel preceded the two etchings and was also executed in Rome.  In any case, the panel is another witness to Parmigianino's experimental method and his search for the best possible compositional solution. Together with these other works, the Horvitz drawing makes an important addition to the understanding of the development of Parmigianino's ideas for this significant print.

The female figure kneeling in prayer on the verso does not seem to relate to the same composition.

1. See respectively A. E. Popham, Drawings of Parmigianino, New Haven and London 1971, vol. I, p. 246, no. 8, reproduced vol. II, pl. 159, O.R.8 and The Illustrated Bartsch, 48, p. 327

2. David Landau and Peter Parshall, The Renaissance Print, 1470-1550, New Haven and London 1994, p. 269

3. See A.E. Popham, op.cit., p. 94, under no. 196

4. Landau and Parshall, loc. cit.; reproduced in Ekserdjian, op. cit., 2001, p. 168,  fig. 2

5. See Mary Vaccaro, Parmigianino, The Paintings, Turin 2002, p. 174, under no. 30