Ferraù Fenzoni

With Galleria Altomani & Sons, Pesaro;
Private collection.

G. Scavizzi & N. Schwed, Ferraù Fenzoni: Pittore / Disegnatore, Perugia 2006, p. 168, cat. no. P56, pp. 320 and 321, under cat. nos. D114 and D117 respectively, reproduced in colour on p. 168 and a detail on p. 79.

The painting is less acidic in colour and lighter in tone than the catalogue illustration would suggest. The canvas has been relined however the paint surface retains a nice impasto despite. The paint surface appears to be in good overall condition with no apparent damage or loss of paint visible to the naked eye. There is an uneven craquelure overall in keeping with the painting’s age. Examination under ultraviolet reveals the presence of a thin milky varnish overall and reveals minor but sensitive cosmetic scattered flecks of retouching in the flesh tones and to the lighter pigments of the clothing. There are some further very minor scattered areas of strengthening to the darker pigments mostly in the background, but overall the painting appears to be in good structurally sound condition. Offered in a plain gilt wood frame in good condition but for some very minor wood worm damage.
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This remarkably dynamic portrayal of The Beheading of the Baptist is a mature work by the idiosyncratic Emilian painter Ferraù Fenzoni, also known as ‘il Faenzone’ (after his birthplace). Fenzoni worked in Rome for the first half of his professional career but returned to Faenza in 1599. Giuseppe Scavizzi dates this painting to sometime after 1614, roughly contemporary with the artist’s decoration of chapels in Faenza cathedral (1612-1616). The relatively small dimensions of the canvas (107 by 130 cm.) are particularly impressive given the complexity of Fenzoni’s multi-figural arrangement and would indicate that it was probably commissioned by a private patron. The masterful foreshortening of the Baptist’s body, sparing us the gore of his severed neck, suggests the painting was intended to hang quite high (perhaps on the upper register of a hang in a palazzo).

Fenzoni was a prolific draughtsman and the numerous drawings that have survived show that he repeatedly worked out his compositions on paper before picking up his paintbrushes. At least four sheets are known in connection with this particular composition of The Beheading of the Baptist and they are all to be found in the Uffizi:¹ the first is a pen-and-ink compositional study, with notable differences, of horizontal format; the second and third are vertical re-elaborations of the figure of Salome, also in pen and ink; the fourth is that most closely related to the final painted composition, horizontal in format and with only minor differences (see fig. 1), executed in black chalk and heightened with white on blue paper. It can be reasonably assumed that the drawings were executed in the order listed above. The first compositional drawing treats the same theme but lends greater importance to the background, whilst in the final painting there is barely any suggestion of setting and the figures are brought right up to the forefront of the composition, thus increasing the narrative’s dramatic force. The foreshortened body of the Baptist in the initial drawing is shown the other way around, with the severed neck in the immediate foreground, and Fenzoni ended up favouring a less gruesome approach in the final painting (perhaps on the instigation of the patron). Certain elements from this drawing are carried through to the final composition; such as the two soldiers conversing by the tower, who are brought forward and appear right behind the body of the Baptist in the painting; or the plumed hat of the soldier at the far left which is moved onto the principal soldier in the final painting. The two upright drawings of Salome would seem to suggest that Fenzoni originally intended to show a slightly later moment in the narrative: in both of these, Salome is seen already holding the head of the Baptist and turning to her maidservant. In the painting Fenzoni has chosen to show the soldier actually dropping the Baptist’s head onto the platter Salome holds: this not only increases the drama of the episode depicted but the violence of the soldier’s act contrasts with the steady outward gaze of Salome herself. These three drawings are all executed in pen and ink and show numerous corrections in white, demonstrating that the composition was still very much a work in progress at this stage.  The final drawing is worked up in black chalk and shows minimal differences with the painting. The figures’ poses are more or less determined and the background, which is still quite close to Fenzoni’s first compositional idea, assumes even less importance in the final painting.


1. N. Schwed, in Scavizzi & Schwed, under Literature, pp. 320-21, cat. nos. D114-D117, all reproduced.