Calvary

Author: Klazina Botke

This drawing was once cut in half horizontally and then mounted back together. The sheet may also have been lined at that time. The old backing sheet was removed in 1996 and a less advanced version of the same composition in black chalk was revealed on the verso, along with an old attribution to Alessandro Casolani. The large, widely spaced eyes and the figures’ broad, sometimes summarily indicated noses are indeed characteristic of the style of Casolani and artists in his circle.^[1]

We see here the moment just before the descent from the Cross. Mary, Christ’s mother, overwhelmed by grief, is supported by St John and possibly Mary of Clopas. Mary Magdalene kneels on the right, her arms outstretched and her eyes lifted to heaven. Behind her a young man gestures and beyond him are Joseph of Arimathea and the Pharisee Nicodemus, who will very soon lift Christ from the Cross. Nicodemus already has the tools that will be needed in his left hand. God the Father appears above the Cross, surrounded by angels. The position of the crucified Christ is an unusual aspect of this composition: he is directly in the foreground, so that the bystanders are placed behind the Cross rather than around it. This arrangement, which is seldom seen, is very reminiscent of the altarpiece in the oratory of Santissima Trinità in Siena. Here Casolani painted the scene (1575) that acts as the background to a bronze crucifix by the sculptor Prospero Antichi (c.1555-1592). The figure of Christ in our drawing also bears a resemblance to the one in Casolani’s Crucifixion with Saints and Francesco Maria Piccolomini (1583), made for the San Andrea chapel in Palazzo Piccolomini Patrizi in Siena.^[2]

Although the composition of the drawing points towards Casolani, in 1962 Pouncey suggested an attribution to Ferraù Fenzoni (1562-1645).^[3] In view of similarities in the rendition of human figures this is understandable, but Fenzoni’s pen-and-ink studies are more expressive and drawn with freer strokes of the pen.^[4] Ciampolini recently revived the suggestion that the study could have been made by Casolani himself, or by his brother-in-law Vincenzo Rustici (1556-1632), who was active in his workshop from 1582 onwards.^[5] Since the handling of the pen is quite stiff, our drawing would more likely be a workshop copy of a lost drawing by Casolani.