Baccio Bandinelli

J.P. Zoomer (L.1511);
A. Normand (L.153c);
sale, New York, Christie's, 30 January 1997, lot 9

Paris, Galerie Aubry, Dessins français et italiens du XVIe et du XVIIe siècle, no. 6, reproduced

Roger Ward, Baccio Bandinelli as a Draughtsman, unpublished doctoral thesis, University of London, Courtauld Institute of Art, London 1982, no. 375;
Roger Ward, Baccio Bandinelli, Drawings from British Collections, exhib. cat., Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, 1988, under no. 28 and p. 177

Laid down and made up, top and upper left. Old minor losses in lower corners. Ink has eaten into paper slightly in a few places but is otherwise good and strong. Some light dirt and staining to paper surface, but overall impression given by drawing still very good and strong.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Roger Ward compared the pose of this male nude with the very similar figure of Christ in Bandinelli's drawing The Flagellation now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (see Literature, 1988).  That composition is loosely based on Michelangelo's studies of 1516 made for Sebastiano del Piombo for his fresco in San Pietro in Montorio, Rome.  The present study is dated by Ward to the same moment as the Ashmolean drawing which is associated with a lost relief datable to 1532.  Drawings such as the present one, where the figure is set in a landscape, are quite rare.

The subject is not definitely St. Sebastian, but could perhaps instead represent Achior from The Book of Judith whom the Assyrian warlord Holophernes had tied to a tree outside the city of Bethulia.