Men, Women and a Child Followed by Prisoners, a Soldier and a Horseman

Author: Maud Guichané

Francesco di Giorgio Martini, a sculptor, painter, architect and engineer, was one of the great figures of the Sienese Renaissance. His graphic work, intended to illustrate his treatises on engineering and architecture, has been widely studied. However, the twenty or so of his figurative drawings preserved are less well-known. After Brandi’s first study in 1934,^[1] Degenhart attempted to reconstruct this ensemble and establish a chronology.^[2] In a second article in 1939,^[3] he added a number of works to the artist’s corpus of drawings, including the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen’s drawing, which had previously been attributed to Sandro Botticelli (1444/1445-1510)^[4] or the Ferrara School.^[5]

The upper edge of the drawing is trimmed around the contours of a horseman, who is following a soldier and two prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs. In the lower part of the sheet, female figures and a child follow two men pushing a pack animal. The two groups probably belong to a larger composition, perhaps an exodus scene. Degenhart aptly compared this drawing to the Exodus of the Jews from Egypt (fig.), which illustrates Federico da Montefeltro’s (1422-1482) Bible, completed in 1478 in the Florentine workshop of Vespasiano da Bisticci (1421-1498).^[6] It is likely that Francesco di Giorgio had access to this masterpiece in the collection of the Duke of Urbino, in whose service he worked from 1477 onwards, and that he was inspired by it.

The attribution of the Rotterdam drawing to Francesco di Giorgio by Degenhart, confirmed by Weller in 1943^[7] and later by Andrea De Marchi in 1993,^[8] is based on its stylistic similarity to several works of his maturity, dated to the 1480s. The attitude of the figures, with their slender limbs, can be found in his sculptures^[9] as well as in his paintings.^[10] Their movement interacts with the long folds of the draperies, which reveal the shape of the bodies underneath. As was his custom, Francesco di Giorgio delineated the forms with a fine, discontinuous line. He then animated the surface with a tight network of hatching, sometimes curled but rarely crossed, which give the sheet a kind of vibration, similar to that seen in his bronze reliefs.^[11] The dating of our drawing to the 1480s^[12] is confirmed by its stylistic and technical proximity to the Landscape with Riders Fighting in Düsseldorf.^[13] The way horses and prisoners are depicted is also very similar.

As this drawing has not been directly linked to any known work by Francesco di Giorgio, its function remains uncertain. It is executed on parchment, a precious and more expensive medium than paper, which was available in Siena at the time.^[14] Francesco di Giorgio appears to have preferred this support, perhaps a habit linked to his activity as an illuminator or for the modelli intended for his patrons.^[15] The drawing could be a study for an illumination,^[16] or a small painted work, such as a predella element or a cassone panel.