Christ Between Saints Cosmas and Damian

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TMSFoto/PK/WM inv DN 117-14 detail Kroon-ster.jpg

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Specifications

Title	Christ Between Saints Cosmas and Damian
Material and technique	Black chalk
Object type	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location	This object is in storage

Dimensions	Height 409 mm Width 308 mm
Artists	Draughtsman: Alessandro Allori Previously attributed: Pontormo (Jacopo Carucci)
Accession number	DN 117/14 (PK)
Credits	Gift Dr A.J. Domela Nieuwenhuis, 1923
Department	Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date	1923
Creation date	in circa 1560
Watermark	Crown with six-pointed star above (67 x 47 mm, centre left, on P3 of 8P, vH, cropped folio), no similar type with a star in Briquet, similar to Piccard Online DE8085-PO-51648 (48 x 32 mm; Parchwitz, Oder, 1565) but larger [see image]
Inscriptions	‘Di Angiol Bronzino’ (verso, lower left, pen and brown ink), ‘di Bronzino’ (verso, centre, red chalk), ‘in Paolo’ (verso, centre left, pen and brown ink, crossed out)
Collector	Collector / Adriaan Domela Nieuwenhuis
Mark	A.J. Domela Nieuwenhuis (L.356b) on removed fragment of old backing paper
Provenance	Dr. Adriaan J. Domela Nieuwenhuis (1850-1935, L.356b), Munich/Rotterdam, donated with his collection in 1923 (attributed to Pontormo)
Research	Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
Literature	Lecchini Giovannoni 1991, p. 218
Material	Paper > Vegetable material > Organic material > Material > Material and technique Black chalk > Chalk > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique
Object	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Geographical origin	Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

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Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Klazina Botke

The tears and spatter marks that mar this drawing are not so severe as to detract from the soft, subtle modelling of the figures. The sheet is representative of Allori’s early drawing style, when he was clearly still following his teacher Agnolo Bronzino (1503-1572) stylistically and technically. It is therefore not surprising that the work was formerly attributed to the latter.^[1]Because of the relationship to a painting in Brussels, first remarked upon by Heikamp, the work can now be given to Allori with certainty.^[2]The Brussels panel dates to around 1559-60, just after Allori’s return from Rome. The young artist stayed in that city several times between 1554 and 1559, perfecting his skills by, among other things, copying The Last Judgement by Michelangelo (1475-1564).^[3]His admiration for the master’s work is evident in the way he depicted Christ’s broad, muscular naked body. The Christ figure’s pose also bears some resemblance to Michelangelo’s sculpture of the risen Christ in Santa Maria Sopra Minerva.

The study in Rotterdam differs from the finished painting in Brussels on several points. First of all, the saints’ positions and attributes were slightly changed. In the painting, Allori opened the book held by the saint on the left to show the anatomical studies it contains.^[4]Christ’s loincloth was adjusted, as were the Arma Christi (instruments of the Passion), and the decorated, round capital. It is clear from these small but visible differences, along with some pentimenti, that the sheet is a preliminary study, not a ricordo or copy of the panel.

Lecchini Giovannoni and Costamagna suggested that the work in Brussels may have been commissioned by the Montauto family for a chapel in San Giovanni dei Fiorentini in Rome,^[5]but there is no direct evidence of this. The monumentality of the two saints is very reminiscent of the evangelists Allori painted at around the same time in the Montauto chapel in Santissima Annunziata in Florence.^[6]It is also perfectly possible, however, that the work was ordered by the Medici family, which embraced the Arab physicians Cosmas and Damian as patron saints.^[7]

Footnotes

^[1]See inscriptions; ‘di Bronzino’ can refer to both Agnolo Bronzino and his pupil Allori, because the latter sometimes used his master’s name. In Domela Nieuwenhuis’s collection (1923) the sheet was attributed to Pontormo. According to an undated note on the old backing paper, the drawing was also attributed to Allori by Matthias Winner. Another note, without author or date, attributes the work (with a question mark) to Giulio Clovio.

^[2]Royal Museums for Fine Arts of Belgium, inv. 1329 (acquired as Salviati, now Allori). Note by Deflet Heikamp on a photograph in the Fototeca of the Kunsthistorisches Institut in Florence. Published for the first time by Forlani in Barocchi et al. 1963, p. 46. See also Lecchini Giovannoni 1991, p. 218. On the back of the painting we find ‘Antonio Card. Doria’, which may mean that the painting was once owned by Cardinal Antonio Doria Pamphili (1749-1821).

^[3]Pilliod 2003, p. 37.

^[4]The drawings were inspired by Jan di Valverde’s La anatomia del corpo umano (1559), see Lecchini Giovannoni 1991, p. 218. This was before Allori made his own anatomical studies for Il primo libro de’ ragionamenti delle regole del Disegno (c.1565); see also the preliminary studies in Florence, Gallerie degli Uffizi, inv. 6700 F, 6709 F, 6710 F and 6711 F.

^[5]Lecchini Giovannoni 1988, pp. 16, 21, n. 38.

^[6]There is a preliminary study in Florence, Gallerie degli Uffizi, inv. 10313 F; Lecchini Giovannoni 1991, pp. 218 and 222.

^[7]Lecchini Giovannoni 1988, p. 16.

Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600

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