Study for Two Flying Angels

Author: Chris Fischer

Traditionally attributed to Fra Bartolommeo (1473-1517), this drawing was correctly identified by Knapp in 1903,^[1] Gabelentz in 1922^[2] and Borgo in 1974^[3] as a preparatory study for the pair of angels at the upper left in Albertinelli’s Annunciation with God the Father in Florence, dated 1510.^[4] The connection and attribution was confirmed by the present author in 1990.^[5] The huge altarpiece (335 x 230 cm) was commissioned by the Compagnia of San Zanobi for the confraternity’s chapel in the presbytery of the cathedral of Florence. The contract has not been found, but payments to Albertinelli began in 1505 and continued until 1511, so the preparatory drawings were probably made around 1505.  

The drawing is executed on blue prepared paper, chosen here by Albertinelli for purely decorative purposes. He placed the two closely intertwined angels on the sheet like a relief-style ornament without any attempt to give them bulk and tactility, although the coloured paper could work as a middle tone on to which he could go lighter, with white chalk, and darker, with black chalk. This is very typical of Albertinelli’s approach and is very different from his companion Fra Bartolommeo’s way of depicting figures as becomes clear if Albertinelli’s angels are compared to their ultimate offspring: the angels of Fra Bartolommeo’s contemporary painting The Vision of St Bernard (1504-07)^[6] which are more rounded and corporeal. Another typical trait of Albertinelli’s approach to form is the forceful accentuation of light and dark. The highlighted areas are abruptly separated from the shadowed ones almost without transition so that the individual figure appears almost fragmented. This is even more conspicuous in the painting and adds to its crepuscular atmosphere of mystery.

Another drawing by Albertinelli for the same project is also in Rotterdam.^[7]