A New Drawing by Sebastiano del Piombo

Author(s): Francis Russell

Source: The Burlington Magazine, Vol. 119, No. 888, Special Issue Devoted to Italian
Painting of the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Centuries (Mar., 1977), pp. 222-223
Published by: Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/878760
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 CURRENT AND FORTHCOMING EXHIBITIONS

The exhibition is exemplary Catherine ofand Siena should

gazes at the Annuncia-
late Vitale Bloch (Fig. 103).-
not be missed (it closes 18th April). tion of the Virgin that appears on an open The bulk of the drawings that belong
Seventy-two photos of altar-pieces, fres- wall as on a screen; a nun dreams of theto the Pinacoteca of Bologna represen
coes, etchings and drawings complement Mystic Marriage of St Catherine of Siena Bolognese artists of all centuries. Even
the selection of seventy-seven sheets by (cat. Nos.28, 38, 4I, Figs.99, ioo). The un-new acquisitions tend, understandably, t
Francesco Vanni and thirty-six sheets by reality of the scenes hovers between concentrate
a on this section. Not many
Ventura Salimbeni, and are extremely use- reverie and a tableau-vivant. Ventura Salim- scholars have specialized - so far - on
ful to the visitor. Pity these photographsbeni, on the other hand, minvolves the be- Emilian draughtsmanship as such. The
are not reproduced in the catalogue: theyholder in the illustrated event, and plunges few who have browsed in the Bolognese
would have made it into a precious straight into the business of life (Cat. Printroom have volunteered suggestions,
reference book on two attractive artists, No.97, Fig.ioi). While decorating the which have been eagerly taken up in the
much beloved by Cardinal Leopoldo cloisters of the SS. Annunziata alongside catalogue entries, where traditional attri-
de'Medici but not yet treated in a mono- Bernardino Poccetti, he found a kindred butions have been confirmed, or corrected,
graphic study. The author of the masterlysoul in the practical Florentine artist and an effort was made to rescue from
catalogue' has been working on them for (Fig.97). His figures have well defined anonymity several sheets. Among the io
many years and has cautiously selectedvolumes and his chiaroscuro slices them unpublished drawings in the show: two
about one third of the sheets preserved atup into geometric blocks (Fig.I o02), quite severe Heads by Bartolomeo Passarotti;
the Uffizi under their name, in order to unlike the sinuous shadows of Francesco fanciful helmets and a richly embroidered
Vanni. His draughtsmanship verges on caparison attributed to Baccio del Bianco
provide the less experienced student with a
safe and significant choice. Francesco several stage-designs and architectural
Academic correctness but is saved by his
Vanni gets a larger representation than genuine and most enjoyable narrative designs by Stefano Orlandi, Pietro
his half-brother, for the excellent reason talent. Righini, the Galliari, Vittorio Bigari, A. M.
that his graphic style is more varied as Colonna, Antonio Basoli; more sheets
well as better documented. The exhibition in the Museo Civico, attributable to Donato Creti and to the
Riedl discovered that both painters -Bologna (December 1976/January 1977), Gandolfi's; several nineteenth-century
like many of their contemporaries - werebecause of its brief duration, could not be artists such as Giuseppe Fancelli and Luig
visited by many. Its main point was to Serra (Fig.98). All in all, the exquisite
draughtsmen of such virtuosity and range,
that preliminary studies for the samedraw attention to the drawings that have pen studies by Creti and the mellow, be-
project look as though they were by been
a accumulating at the Pinacoteca guiling sketches by Ubaldo, Gaetano
he 1803, most of them unknown to the (Fig.Io04) and Mauro Gandolfi steal the
variety of hands; and at the same time since
was struck by the occasional identity literature.
of The Bolognese Printroom takesshow.
Francesco's and Ventura's graphic styles,
pride in 40,000 engravings, which are LUISA VERTOVA

who often come so close to each other that gradually being published.2 A first volume
it is hard to tell them apart. One reason dedicated to about fifty drawings (six- Saleroom Discoveries
for this may be due to the fact that the teenth to eighteenth centuries) came out in A new drawing by Sebastiano del
two half-brothers sometimes worked to- 1972; a luxury publication, privately Piombo
printed and circulated.3 At last many In recent years a number of previou
gether on the same paintings; and to make
matters worse, Francesco Vanni also com-
drawings, after the necessary mounting unknown drawings by Sebastiano del
pleted, between 1594 and 16o8, some and restoration, were ready to be included Piombo have come to light. Perhaps the
pictures begun by a third, and similar, in the recent show. In the past, only a most impressive of these is a drawing
Sienese artist: Casolani. All the more does
small selection of seventeenth-century traditionally given to Pellegrino Tibaldi
one appreciate Riedl's ability not only inBolognese sketches had been exhibited, which was recognized as Sebastiano's by
presenting drawings clearly related to thanks to Cesare Gnudi, in I947. Thirty Noel Annesley, and proves to be a study
known paintings and etchings, or else in ayears later, the choice was raised to 2oo for one of the two so-called prophets in the
clear chronological sequence, but also in sheets, with artists ranging from the late Borgherini Chapel of San Pietro in Mon-
choosing sheets of a kind that help thesixteenth century to the end of the nine- torio, Rome and thus complements the
visitor to understand the distinct person- teenth century. Every sheet is reproduced study for the companion prophet at
ality of the two half-brothers. Francesco in the catalogue, which is a recommended Kremsier (Fig. 105).
Vanni appears to be intrinsically a buy for all the unprivileged who are not The drawing, which is to be sold at
visionary, who nervously :ots down atti- on the mailing list of privately circulated Christie's on 5thApril, will be studied more
art-historical volumes (and how many art exhaustively in Michael Hirst's forth-
tudes and gestures suggested by his fantasy,
sometimes noting side by side ideas re-historians are?).4 coming monograph on the painter, and is
lated to different compositions (Fig.95). Giovanna Gaeta Bertela, in her intro- in black chalk with grey and brown wash
Even his studies from the model lack the duction to the catalogue sums up what- extensively heightened with white on blue
ever information she could unearth about
usual fixity, and the legs of a seated young paper, squared in red chalk. The em-
man appear restless and unsteady (Fig. the gifts and the purchases of graphic phatically Venetian technique - which
96). His lyrical and ecstatic disposition
material made to, and made by, the Pina- presents obvious parallels with that of
was unfit to cope with the elaborate andcoteca since its foundation in 1802. Most Pordenone - offers further evidence of the
pompous structure of monumental altar- of them took place from 1916 onwards, process by which Sebastiano developed
pieces; but - at his best - he cleverly
and the all too brief exhibition, by putting
and recast the forms prepared for his use
skirts the problem by transforming the the Bolognese Printroom on the map,by wasMichelangelo, and the main figure
subject into a vision, and with laudable differs from the fresco as executed both in
possibly intended also to encourage dona-
tions, like the very apposite one of its
honesty, he even presents the recipient of theproportions and the treatment of light.
such a vision in the foreground: St The pose and action of the angel was also
Francis contemplates the Presentation of reconsidered in the interval between the
the Virgin from behind a column; St2 A. EMILIANI C G. GAETA BERTELA: La Raccolta delle execution of the drawing, no doubt in the
Stampe di Benedetto XIV Lambertini nella Pinacoteca
winter of 1516/17 and the completion of
.Vazionale di Bologna, Bologna, Edizioni Alfa.
3 G. GAETA BERTELA: La Raccolta di Disegni della the decoration of the Chapel some five
Pinacoteca di Bologna - vol.I - Disegni dal XVI al years later, and the iconographic signifi-
XVIII
1 Disegni dei Barocceschi Senesi: secolo, Bologna,
Francesco Edizioneenumerata fuiori
Vanni cance implied by this revision lends some
Ventura Salimbeni. Introduzionecommercio[
de catalogo
1972]. di Peter support to the traditional identification of
Anselm Riedl. Gabinetto Disegni4 G. e Stampe
GAETA BERTELA:degli
Disegni di Artisti Italiani dal the principal figure as Saint Matthew.
Uffizi XLVI, Florence, OlschkiXVIal XIXsecolo,[1976].
Editore Bologna, Edizioni Grafis [1976]. FRANCIS RUSSELL

222

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103. St Dominic (for the Madonna dei Bargellini in the Pinacoteca, 104. Christ before Pilate (for altar-piece in S. Stefano, Bassano,
Bologna), by Ludovico Carracci. Black chalk and white near Bologna), by Gaetano Gandolfi. Black chalk and white
heightening, 52'7 by 35 cm. (Pinacoteca, Bologna, gift of heightening, 43-7 by 31'7 cm. (Pinacoteca, Bologna; exh.
Vitale Bloch, i959; exh. No.8). No.123).

105. A Prophet, by Sebastiano del Piombo. c.16i6-17. Black chalk, grey and io6. The Death of Ananias and Saphira, here attributed to Avanzino
brown wash heightened with white on blue paper, squared in red chalk, Nucci. Red chalk and red and brown wash, 42'3 by 27-5
32 by 25 cm. (Sale, Christie's, April 1977). cm. (Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute, London).

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