Cristofano Roncalli, called Il Pomarancio
RECTO: STUDY OF A MALE NUDE, WITH A SUBSIDIARY STUDY OF A RIGHT HAND AND A HEAD VERSO: STUDY OF A FIGURE, HANDS CLASPED IN PRAYER
LOT SOLD.
47,500 GBP
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Cristofano Roncalli, called Il Pomarancio
POMARANCIO, NEAR VOLTERRA CIRCA 1553 - 1626 ROME
RECTO: STUDY OF A MALE NUDE, WITH A SUBSIDIARY STUDY OF A RIGHT HAND AND A HEAD VERSO: STUDY OF A FIGURE, HANDS CLASPED IN PRAYER
Red chalk heightened with white chalk (recto) and black chalk (verso) on blue paper;
bears old lettering in brown ink, upper left: R.
413 by 274 mm
Read Condition Report
Read Condition Report
bears old lettering in brown ink, upper left: R.
413 by 274 mm
Catalogue Note
This highly refined and characteristic study, executed with the almost sculptural application of red chalk on carta cerulea by the Tuscan born Roncalli, can be closely compared, both on stylistic grounds and in the pose of the figure, to a further figure study by the artist, depicting a Study for the Archangel Michael,1 in the collection of the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
Both of these fine sheets appear to relate to an important commission given to Roncalli by Orazio Rucellai in circa 1603/1604, to decorate his newly constructed family chapel, in Sant'Andrea della Valle, Rome. The decoration, which included four lateral walls, four pendentives and a cupola, also consisted of an altarpiece depicting The Archangel Michael vanquishing the Rebel Angels, for which the present drawing and the one in the Uffizi, both posed in the same manner as the Archangel, must surely be considered preparatory. Though the vast majority of the decorative cycle, including the altarpiece, was already severely deteriorating by the 18th Century, probably due in part to the fact that it seems to have been painted in oil on stucco, a record of the altarpiece is fortunately provided by an engraving, executed in 1618 by Philippe Thomassin (fig.1).
1. S. Prosperi Valenti Rodinò et al, Disegni dei Toscani a Roma (1580-1620), Florence 1979, p. 52, no. 29, fig. 34, reproduced
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