Standing Apostle

Author: Surya Stemerding

This drawing bears the old inscription ‘Bresciano’. Initially this was thought to mean Giovanni Girolamo Savoldo (1480/1485-1548), but Creighton Gilbert recognized it as a reference to Girolamo Muziano (c.1532-1592).^[1] In Rome, which was the centre of Muziano’s activity, he had been given a nickname that identified his birthplace, ‘il Bresciano’ (the man from Brescia), which was nothing unusual in a city full of migrant artists. However, comparison of his work with this drawing shows that on stylistic grounds there can be no justification of an attribution to him.

The drawing shows a standing figure holding an open book that fits within the visual tradition of standing apostles. The absence of attributes, however, makes it difficult to say which apostle he could be. The drawing looks very much like a drapery study with less attention paid to the head, which is also too small relative to the size of the body. In view of the heavily shaded passages combined with white highlights on a coloured ground, the anonymous draughtsman must have known the chiaroscuro woodcuts by the Sienese artist Domenico Beccafumi (1486-1551). Those woodcuts, moreover, include prophets and apostles in similar poses.