Study for a Christ Child

Barocci (Federico Fiori) (in circa 1597)

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Specifications

Title	Study for a Christ Child
Material and technique	Black chalk, heightened with white, on grey-brown paper
Object type	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Location	This object is in storage

Dimensions	Height 246 mm Width 180 mm
Artists	Draughtsman: Barocci (Federico Fiori)
Accession number	MB 1953/T 22 recto (PK)
Credits	Loan Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands, 1953
Department	Drawings & Prints
Acquisition date	1953
Creation date	in circa 1597
Inscriptions	'Correge' (below left., pen and brown ink), '5' (verso, above left, pencil)
Provenance	(?) sale, Amsterdam (Mak van Waay) 1941; Art dealer B.A. Böhmer, Güstrow, acquired in the Netherlands or France, 1941; H. Reemtsma, Hamburg, 1941; National Collection, loan Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed (RCE), 1953 (inv. NK 1336, as Correggio)
Internal exhibitions	De Collectie Twee - wissel II, Prenten & Tekeningen (2009)
Research	Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600
Literature	Jaarverslag 1953, p. 10; Byam Shaw 1969, pp. 88-89, 296, fig. 2
Material	Paper > Vegetable material > Organic material > Material > Material and technique Black chalk > Chalk > Artist's material > Material > Material and technique
Object	Drawing > Two-dimensional object > Art object
Technique	Highlight > Painting technique > Technique > Material and technique
Geographical origin	Italy > Southern Europe > Europe
Place of manufacture	Venice > Veneto region > Italy > Southern Europe > Europe

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Entry catalogue Italian Drawings 1400-1600

Author: Klazina Botke

Copy after Federico Barocci, 'Christ', oil on panel, 184 x 126 mm, c.1597 or later, Glasgow Museums

Federico Barocci was in great demand as an artist and a prolific draughtsman, and according to his biographer Giovanni Pietro Bellori (1613-1696), one of the finest painters of his day. In 1550 and 1560 he travelled to Rome, where he participated in a fresco cycle for Pope Pius IV (1499-1565). According to his own account he was obstructed by jealous rivals while he was there, and possibly even poisoned. In 1563 he accordingly returned to his Urbino birthplace, where he worked for the rest of his life. This sheet contains studies for two works that he made around 1597 for the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria II della Rovere (1549-1631).

The drawing on the recto is a study of the Christ Child seated on a cloud. In his right hand he may be holding an orb while the other hand is bestowing a blessing.^[1]Byam Shaw recognized the scene as an early preliminary study for a painting intended to be part of a gold holy water stoup that had been commissioned by the Duke of Urbino and was to be a gift for Pope Clement VII (1478-1534).^[2]The stoup has been lost, but it is known from a detailed description by Bellori (1672).^[3]In Glasgow there is also a later copy of Barocci’s painted decoration that probably comes from his workshop.^[4]Byam Shaw regarded the Rotterdam drawing as a primo pensiero or initial idea for the composition.^[5]The study shows that Barocci was still searching for the correct pose for the figure. He modified the Christ Child’s head and legs while he was drawing them, repeating them several times on the sheet. In a later study in Würzburg he reversed the scene, probably because the prevailing convention was that Christ should make the blessing with his right hand.^[6]

On the verso there is a woman’s head in coloured chalk. It is one of the many surviving studies for the Virgin in Barocci's Madrid Nativity.^[7]The drawing does not depict her face but merely focuses on her coiffure. Barocci frequently made studies of this kind in order to experiment with subtle details, such as the shape of a head or the fall of light on the hair. Like the Christ Child on the holy water stoup, the Nativity was commissioned by Francesco Maria II della Rovere. In 1604 the duke presented the painting as a gift to Margaret of Austria (1584-1611), the wife of Philip III of Spain (1578-1621), which was then sent to Madrid and given a place in Margaret’s private chapel. It was the ideal place for the relatively small painting, above all because Barocci had succeeded in creating a very intimate scene with a restrained use of colour.

Footnotes

^[1]The provenance of this drawing is far from certain, see http://www.herkomstgezocht.nl/nl/nk-collectie/putto.

^[2]The inscription on the sheet states that the drawing was at one time attributed to Antonio da Correggio (1489-1534). In 1957 Philip Pouncey suggested that the study could be by Barocci (‘May well be Barocci who is strongly suggested by head of woman on verso’, personal note after visiting the museum in April 1957; e-mail correspondence with Francoise Devaux, November 2019). This was confirmed by Byam Shaw (Byam Shaw 1969, pp. 88-89).

^[3]Bellori 1672, p. 186: ‘[…] fece dipingere al Barocci in lamino d’oro Giesù Bambino sedente sul e nubbi, il quale con la mano tiene il mondo, con l’atra benedice […].’

^[4]National Gallery of Scotland, inv. 162.

^[5]Byam Shaw 1969, p. 88.

^[6]Martin von Wagner Museum, inv. 7172. The following may also have been preliminary studies for the same figure: Paris, Musée du Louvre, inv. 2870, and Florence, Gallerie degli Uffizi, inv. 11641 F. See also Olsen 1962, no. 53.

^[7]Museo del Prado, inv. P 000018. This was first noted in 1974 by the art historian Edmund Pillsbury, see the remark on the old passe-partout. Other studies can be found in Windsor, Royal Collection, inv. 905223; Florence, Gallerie degli Uffizi, inv. 11276 F, 11634 F verso and 11550 F; Milan, Ambrosiana, inv. F.290 inf.n.5, F.290 inf.n.2 and F.290 inf.n.4.

Show research Italian Drawings 1400-1600

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