GIROLAMO FRANCESCO MARIA MAZZOLA, CALLED PARMIGIANINO | Augustus and the Sibyl

John Skippe,
his sale, London, Christie's, 20 November 1958, lot 143, reproduced pl. 23;
European Private collection

A.E. Popham, Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino, New Haven and London 1971, vol. I, p. 229, no. 802, p. 143, under no. 398, reproduced vol. II, pl. 126;
M. Di Giampaolo, Disegni Emiliani del Rinascimento, Milan 1989, p.114, under no. 51;
D. Ekserdijan, Parmigianino, New Haven and London 2006, p. 221, and p. 283, under note 56;
A. Gnann, Parmigianino, Die Zeichnungen, Petersberg 2007, vol. I, p. 189, pp. 465-466, no. 717, vol. II, p. 559 reproduced, p. 337,under note 760,

Laid down on the Skippe mount. The top corners are missing, as is the point of the bottom right corner. There are two tiny pinpoint losses over the left of the head of Augustus, and a small crack not very visible towards the left margin. Some light brown staining in that area, and little occasional very small stains. Overall condition is good and paper retains its original blue color.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

The present sheet is one of three surviving preparatory studies by Parmigianino relating to the well-known chiaroscuro woodcut, Augustus and the Sybil, which exists in two versions, executed after Parmigianino’s design by Antonio da Trento (fig. 1) and Niccolò Vicentino.¹  Both prints are thought to date from around the same time, c. 1529-1530.² In the present sheet the figures correspond very closely to those in the prints, though in reverse, and the same is true of the recto of a drawing in the Biblioteca Reale, in Turin, executed in red chalk.³  The third drawing relating to these prints, in the Louvre, witnesses instead an early stage of the composition, with important differences.⁴  Our drawing, formerly in the Skippe collection, appears to be the closest to the final solution, especially in the position of the Sybil's and the emperor's legs, though unlike the other drawings and the woodcut, the Emperor Augustus is here shown beardless, and more in keeping with the classical Roman tradition.  The large figures of Augustus and the Sybil are here very freely executed in black chalk, handled in a broad and effective manner so as to fill the whole space of the page.  The Tiburtine Sybil prophesying to the Emperor  the birth of the Christ Child is shown pointing to the sky to the group of the Virgin and Child and angels among clouds.  Parmigianino enhances the lighting with great subtlety, both through his use of the grey wash and with delicate strokes of white heightening applied with the point of the brush, which contrast with the blue color of the paper – surely purposely chosen.  These pictorial contrasts, as well as the simplified and decisive handling of the chalk, indicate how Parmigianino wanted his figures to be transposed into the woodcut, and could have served as a guide to the woodcutters. 

Parmigianino was deeply fascinated by, and involved with, printmaking and must have been intrigued by the different possibilities offered both by engravings and chiaroscuro woodcuts.  Following his move to Rome in 1524, he began to design prints, including at least one chiaroscuro for Ugo da Carpi.  He continued to work closely with printmakers while living in Bologna after the Sack of Rome, and at some point he also produced a small corpus of etchings.⁵   The Augustus and the Sybil chiaroscuro is mentioned by Giorgio Vasari in connection with Antonio da Trento, but according to the biographer Vicentino only executed his prints after Parmigianino's death.⁶  Popham proposed a dating for all the preparatory drawings and the woodcut in the artist’s Bolognese period, circa 1529-1530, and more recent scholars also date them to the same moment.⁷

Another drawing by Parmigianino for the entire composition, now lost, is known from a crayon-manner reproductive print by Rosaspina.<sup>8

1.</sup> Bartsch XII, p. 90, 7 & 8
^2. A. Gnann, D. Ekserdijan, M. Foster, Chiaroscuro, exhib. cat., London, Royal Academy of Arts, 2014, p. 87
^3. Turin, Biblioteca Reale, inv. no. 16178; A.E. Popham, op. cit., vol. I, p. 184, no. 525, recto reproduced vol. II, pl. 127
^4. Paris, Louvre inv. no. 6419; A.E. Popham, op. cit., vol. I, p. 142, no. 398, reproduced vol. II, pl. 126
^5. D. Ekserdijan, Parmigianino, New Haven and London 2006, p. 213
^6. G. Vasari, Le Opere di Giorgio Vasari con nuove annotazioni e commenti  di Gaetano Milanesi, 1878-85, vol. V, p. 423 
^7. A. Gnann, Parmigianino, Die Zeichnungen, vol. I, p. 190. Gnann rightly mentions that the verso of the sheet in Turin, which includes the twirl of a drapery already identified by Popham as part of the curtain above that Child's head in the Madonna della Rosa in Dresden, dates to the same years.
^8. A.E. Popham, op. cit., vol. I, p. 253, no. OR 68, reproduced vol. II, pl. 127