Bolognese School, Early 17th Century

Arthur Feldmann, Brno;
Looted by the Gestapo during the Nazi occupation of Czechoslovakia;
Accessioned by the National Gallery, Prague, inv. nos. DK 4630 & K. 43 181 (as Pietro da Cortona; bears their mark, verso: NGGS/PRAHA, not in Lugt);
restituted to the heirs of Arthur Feldmann in 2013

Paper very slightly discolored and stained in places, but overall condition reasonably good. Two small thin spots at left edge, and one more above angel's head. A few minor marks on the verso, from old mounting glue.
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This powerful and intriguing study, which was held at the National Gallery, Prague, under the name of Pietro da Cortona, has more recently prompted a variety of different attributions, ranging from Annibale Carracci and Pier Francesco Mola to Domenico Canuti.  It must surely be the work of a Bolognese artist closely associated with the early style of the Carracci, although some of the stylistic elements in the figure of Gideon are also found in the work of the young Guercino.

Lodovico treated this relatively rare subject in a fresco on a chimney-breast in Palazzo Ratta, lost since the 19th century, but recorded by Malvasia in the ‘sala di sopra de’ signori Ratta’.¹  The composition of this lost painting is known through an 18th-century engraving by Carlo Antonio Pisarri, but bears no relation to the horizontal composition seen in the present sheet.  The subject is, though, perfectly suited to a chimneypiece decoration, and since both Lodovico and Annibale are known to have executed such works in various Bolognese palaces, the drawing may perhaps relate to a another representation of this subject by one or other artist.

The early works of the Carracci were very much a collaboration, but stylistically one can argue that the present sheet shows considerable similarities with the earlier style of Annibale.  In particular, looking at the figure of Gideon, the quick and fluid use of the pen combined with subtle passages in the description of the helmet, face and hands, and also the very pointed feet, are all features that are strongly reminiscent of Annibale's drawings.  

1. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice, Bologna, ed.1841, vol. I, p. 353