This powerful and emotive drawing is possibly a preparatory study for Boscoli’s painting of the same subject signed and dated 1601, executed for the main altar in S. Maria del Buon Gesù at Calassai, near Ascoli.
1 The present drawing can be closely compared to another
Crucifixion in the British Museum’s collection (inv. no. 1946,0713.551), also a study for an altarpiece, now lost, executed for the church of Santi Apostoli, Florence in 1599. These drawings both demonstrate Boscoli's mastery of wash and his sensitive approach to the human form, echoing artists such as Pontormo and Rosso Fiorentino.
1. N. Bastogi, Andrea Boscoli, Florence 2008, no. 37, reproduced, fig. 188