Head of a Young Saint

Author: Giada Damen

In the eighteenth century this drawing by Lorenzo di Credi was in the collection of Pierre-Jean Mariette (1694-1774), a renowned connoisseur who pasted it onto one of his characteristic blue mounts together with another study by the artist: Head of a Young Man, now in Moscow.^[1] As such, the two drawings were later acquired by Franz Koenigs. In 1940 however, at the time of the German invasion of the Netherlands, Mariette’s mount was brutally torn in half and the two drawings have been separated ever since.^[2]

The attribution of both drawings to Lorenzo di Credi dates back to Mariette himself who wrote the name of the artist in the pen-and-ink cartouche on the blue mount. It was later endorsed by Bernard Berenson who pointed out that the sheet had stylistic similarities with works by Francesco Granacci (?1469-1543).^[3]

The drawing has been assumed to represent the head of the angel in the Annunciation,^[4] but it may also depict a saint. In 1966 Gigetta Dalli Regoli suggested that the drawing could be connected with the figure of Saint Sebastian in Credi’s altarpiece Madonna and Saints in Dresden.^[5] The delicate head of the young saint, drawn on this sheet with soft traces of silverpoint, is similar to that of the saint in the altarpiece but not identical.

While the attribution of this drawing to Lorenzo di Credi has never been questioned, it is interesting to note that in recent scholarship some metalpoint drawings similar to the present one and traditionally ascribed to the artist have been singled out as works by Agnolo di Domenico di Donnino Mazziere (1466-1513).^[6] This artist, active in Florence and Rome in the second half of the fifteenth century, was known for a long time by the pseudonym of Master of the Santo Spirito altarpieces. Among Lorenzo di Credi’s drawings that have been discussed for their proximity to Agnolo di Domenico di Donnino’s manner are Head of a Young Man Wearing a Cap in Paris^[7] and the drawing in Moscow once mounted with the present drawing.^[8] The artistic personality of Agnolo di Domenico di Donnino has been rediscovered only recently. Technically and stylistically his drawings are extremely close to those of Lorenzo di Credi. As pointed out by Catherine Monbeig Goguel, a reassessment of the graphic corpus of Lorenzo di Credi could help redefine his draughtsmanship as well as that of the other artists in his circle. It could also, perhaps, shed new light on the authorship of the present sheet.