Carlo Maratti

Sale, London, Christie's, 30 March 1976, lot 19, purchased by Ralph Holland

Newcastle, 1982, no. 61

N. Turner, Roman Baroque Drawings, c.1620 to c.1700,...in the British Museum, London 1999, vol. I, p. 135, under no. 190

Hinged in a few places to a modern mount. A very slight stain to the right toward the margin, slight surface dirt. Paper slightly wrinkled at the top and bottom. Overall in good condition.
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This skilful study of drapery is preparatory for the figure of St. John the Evangelist in Maratti's 1686 altarpiece, St. John the Evangelist Disputing the subject of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin with the Church Fathers, SS Gregory, John Chrysostom and Augustine (fig. 1).  The painting is in the magnificent Cybo chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome.  The pose of the important figure of St. John the Evangelist changed as the composition evolved and there are several known drawings related to it.  The early drawings, three of them in the Academia di San Fernando, Madrid,¹ show the Saint to the right of the composition.  Only at a later stage did Maratti place the figure to the left, with his arm raised towards the sky, as in the present partial study.  Here the artist is concentrating on the rendering of the intricate and sculptural drapery, so the head and arms are only indicated.  Therefore, it must be a later study in Maratti's development of the composition, and can be closely related to three others in which he concentrates on the drapery: one, perhaps the earliest, sold in London²; another, very close to the present study, sold in Milan (fig. 2)³; and one for the whole figure, in the British Museum, which must be the latest as it is very close to the painting.⁴  Nicholas Turner, in his catalogue entry on the British Museum drawing, gives a full account of the other known studies preparatory for the figure of St. John, chiefly for the drapery, and also for the whole composition.  These are preserved in several European and American museums. 

1.  Inv. nos. 1816, 1684, 1683
2.  London, Sotheby's, 10 July 2002, lot 150
3.  Milan, Sotheby's, 8 May 2002, lot 1335
4.  Turner, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 135-136, no. 190, reproduced vol. II, fig. 190