Study of St John the Baptist

Alessandro Maganza (in circa 1600-1610)

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TMSFoto/PK/WM inv S 27 Kruisboog NP cirkel drieblad geheel.jpg

TMSFoto/PK/WM inv S 27 Kruisboog NP cirkel drieblad detail.jpg

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Specifications

Title	Study of St John the Baptist
Material and technique	Black chalk, pen and brown ink (irongall corrosion)
Object type	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location	This object is in storage

Dimensions	Height 313 mm Width 214 mm
Artists	Draughtsman: Alessandro Maganza Previously attributed: El Greco
Accession number	S 27 (PK)
Credits	Loan Stichting Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen (former Koenigs collection), 1940
Department	Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date	1940
Creation date	in circa 1600-1610
Watermark	Crossbow with initials N and O, in a circle, surmounted by a trefoil (53 x 43 mm, in the center, on P4 of 8P, vH, folio), similar to Briquet 764, 765, 768 (Ferrara 1580-93) and Piccard Online DE5580-Codgraec271_97/98 (Bavarian Ms., end 16th c.). [see image]
Inscriptions	‘T[intorett]o’ (?, below left, pen in brown ink), 'Jacopo Tintoretto' (montuur, below right, pencil), ‘8m’ (montuur, centre, pencil)
Collector	Collector / Franz Koenigs
Mark	F.W. Koenigs (L.1023a on removed mount)
Provenance	Sir Archibald Alison (1792-1867), Glasgow (in an album); Art dealer Luigi Grassi (1858-1937, L.1171b), Florence (from the album, probably dismembered by him); Franz W. Koenigs (1881-1941, L.1023a), Haarlem, acquired in 1930 (attributed to El Greco); 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
Literature	Tietze/Tietze-Conrat 1944, pp. 27, 292 under no. A 1754 and A 1757 (mid 17th-c.); Byam Shaw 1976, under no. 840; Paris 1996, under no. 61; Matarrese 2002, p. 67 n. 43
Material	Brown ink > Ink > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Paper > Vegetable material > Organic material > Material > Material and technique Pen > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Pen > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Oak gall ink > Ink > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique Leadpoint > Metalpoint > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique
Object	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Geographical origin	Italy > Southern Europe > Europe
Place of manufacture	Vicenza > Veneto region > Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Albert Elen

This is one of several figure studies by Maganza in a group of thirteen sheets originating from an album owned by the Glasgow collector Sir Archibald Alison (1792-1867), which came to the museum with the Koenigs Collection in 1935 (S 18-30).^[1] The drawing is typical of Alessandro Maganza in its skilful handling of the pen, with swirling lines, over a loosely sketched underdrawing in black chalk. It is closely related to a composition study of the baptism of Christ with God the Father accompanied by angels in the clouds and bystanders at the left, which was last recorded at auction in 1995.^[2] That study is heavily shaded with washes and must have preceded the separate figure study in Rotterdam.^[3] Stylistically our drawing is very close to a study by Alessandro Maganza, now in Paris, of St Teresa kissing Christ’s wounds.^[4]The two pen drawings share Maganza’s typical underdrawing in black chalk or graphite and idiosyncrasies especially in details like the lower end of the chest bone summarily indicated by a curl between the two nipples and the worked-out feet. Also similar in style and execution, apart from the additional wash, are the three elegant studies for a St Sebastian from the János Scholz Collection, now in New York.^[5]

As in most drawings in the Rotterdam group,Maganza used iron gall ink, which in this case has corroded in places, causing the loss of a small fragment in the wrist and the palm of the hand holding the stick and on the right calf.

Footnotes

^[1]For this provenance, see the entry for inv. S 20.

^[2]Collection P. & N. de Boer, Amsterdam, their sale London (Sotheby’s) 09.07.1995, lot 36 (A. Maganza).

^[3]According to Andrew Robison (email 4 August 2014) our drawing is probably by Giovanni Battista Maganza, but this is contradicted by the stylistic characteristics of Alessandro and the limited number of drawings that are securely attributed to Giovanni Battista. The division of hands between father and son should be further researched. As early as 1676, Boschini, p. 9, remarked that the son followed his father’s example so closely that many might be deceived (into believing paintings were by the father although they were actually by the son): ‘Gio: Battista Maganza, figliuolo di Alessandro, che veramente s’avvicinò tanto alla maniera del Padre, che molti potrebbero rimanere ingannati’.

^[4]Fondation Custodia, inv. 4199; Byam Shaw 1983, no. 254, pl. 297; Meijer 2014a, p. 476, fig. 16; Meijer 2017, p. 257, n. 23, fig. 7.

^[5]Morgan Library & Museum, inv. 1975.37; Meijer 2014a, p. 476, fig. 18; Meijer 2017, pp. 259-61, fig. 9. Another similar study is a drawing of a male figure seen from behind in New York, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 1975.1.249 (Robert Lehman Collection).

Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600

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