Description:
Standing figure of a man wearing heavy drapery from his head to his ankles. His hands are exposed and clasped in front of his stomach; his feet are bare. Evidence of a graphite sketch on reverse; seated woman with a child in her arms.
Label Text:
Baldassarre Franceschini, called “Il Volterrano,” was born in the town of Volterra in 1611. He was strongly influenced throughout his career by Coreggio and Pietro da Cortona, though this drawing in particular shows the influence of Michelangelo in the elegant elongation of the figure. Volterrano was a highly sought-after artist among an elite Florentine circle headed by the Medici family, who looked for solid, respectable art, as opposed to the new and unconventional work of the followers of Caravaggio or the Carracci. Although his popularity was perhaps limited to a relatively small social faction, Volterrano was by no means lacking in commissions. He painted frescoes for many chapels in the church of SS. Annunziata, and in several palazzi of notable individuals, including the ceiling of the Sala delle Allegorie in the Palazzo Pitti (c. 1657-58).
One of many drawings by Volterrano in the Mount Holyoke College Art Museum, this sheet is typical of the artist’s highly refined style. As opposed to the Bolognese drawings across the gallery, this one is typical of the Florentine preference for classical Renaissance beauty over the more anguished Mannerist or Baroque styles.
Drawings by Volterrano were often confined to a single figure, or only the parts that would be shown in the final composition. It is possible that whatever this figure is supposed to be holding in his outstretched hand would not appear in the final composition and thus has been left out of the drawing. This study, however, is probably not an academic one, because the male subject is draped, and the overwhelming majority of sketches done in the academies were of nude figures. Therefore, it may be a copy of a figure from a painting or drawing by another artist. Although its purpose remains unknown, the pose and expression are suggestive of a saint.
(A.R.L. 2007)
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=MH+2004.21.17 |
