Head of Christ

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Specifications

Title	Head of Christ
Material and technique	Black chalk
Object type	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location	This object is in storage

Dimensions	Height 244 mm Width 191 mm
Artists	Maker: Anoniem Previously attributed: Fra Bartolommeo (Bartolomeo-Domenico di Paolo del Fattorino, Baccio della Porta) Previously attributed: Leonardo da Vinci
Accession number	I 386 (PK)
Credits	Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (former Koenigs collection), 1940
Department	Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date	1940
Creation date	in circa 1500-1530
Watermark	crossed arrows (fragment, bottom, 41 x 28 mm, on P5 of 7P, vV)
Inscriptions	'Frate' (below left, pen and brown ink), 'Bartolomeo' (verso, centre, black chalk), '18 AJ. Dr. Cramer [...] Oxford' (verso, below left, pen and brown ink)
Collector	Collector / Franz Koenigs
Mark	F.W. Koenigs (L.1023a on removed paper infill), unknown blind stamp, double circle (below right)
Provenance	possibly Dr. A. Cramer (L.92); his (unknown) sale, Oxford 1847, (?) lot 923; - ; Art dealer Julius W. Böhler (1883-1966), Lucerne; Franz W. Koenigs (1881-1941, L.1023a), Haarlem, acquired in 1929 (Milanese, early 16th century); D.G. van Beuningen (1877-1955), Rotterdam, acquired with the Koenigs Collection in 1940 and donated to Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen
Research	Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
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
Place of manufacture	Milan > Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Chris Fischer

The old ascription of this drawing to Fra Bartolommeo (1473-1517) is untenable, as was already observed by Julius Böhler who sold the badly preserved sheet to Franz Koenigs in 1929 as belonging to the Milanese school, early sixteenth century. This classification is supported by the gentle sfumato, recalling the followers of Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), and the compressed space, both of which are characteristic of drawings of the Lombard school. In fact the soft handling and the avoidance of contours are traits that are also found in drawings attributed to artists of Leonardo’s circle such as Francesco Melzi (1493-c.1570), Gian Giacomo Salai (c.1480-1524), Cesare da Sesto (1477-1523) and Andrea Solario (c.1465-1524), as is the weak expression also found in sculpture attributed to Cristoforo Solari (1468/1470-1524).^[1] Most of these artists are still fairly undefined as draughtsmen, so an attribution to a specific artist is still not possible.

Footnotes

^[1] For example: Female Head, Venice, Gallerie dell’Accademia, inv. 267, variously given to Cesare da Sesto, Francesco Melzi, Gian Giacomo Salai, circle of Cesare da Sesto, cf. Venice 1966-67, p. 33, no. 28, fig. 32; Female Head, after Andrea del Salario, cf. Milan 1962, p. 145, no. 52, p. 147 ill.; Bust of the Redeemer, attributed to Cristoforo Solari, cf. Venice 1992, pp. 398-99, ill.

Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600

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Specifications

Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Footnotes

All about the artist

Anoniem

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