Giorgio Gandini (1489-1538)
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt 1520-30
Red chalk, pen and ink, some wash and white heightening; squared in red chalk and the outlines incised. | 20.2 x 16.0 cm, upper right corner torn away (sheet of paper) | RCIN 990599
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A drawing of the Madonna and Child seated, the infant Baptist kneeling to kiss the feet of Christ; St Joseph walking in the left background.
The central group of Madonna, Child and Infant Baptist are carefully drawn without any corrections and were clearly transcribed from an earlier compositional study, whereas the figure of Joseph in the background was sketchily improvised on the present sheet. The drawing is both squared and incised for transfer, and served as the model for a small panel now in Sinebrychoff Art Museum of the Finnish National Gallery, Helsinki.
The drawing was earlier attributed to Correggio; Popham (in P&W 1949) proposed Bernardino Gatti. The correct attribution to Gandini was recognised by K. Oberhuber (Master Drawings, VIII, 1970, p.286, note 23). A further study apparently for the same composition was with Stephen Ongpin Fine Art, 2022. A copy of the drawing by Ozias Humphrey, in coloured chalks and dated 1781, is in the Ashmolean. The group of the Madonna, Child and Infant Baptist is found, in reverse, in drawings attributed to Berettoni at Windsor (904105) and the British Museum (Turner, Baroque Drawings, no. 25) - supposedly based on a painting by Carlo Maratti in the Capitoline Museums, which however lacks the Baptist. -
Creator(s)
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Medium and techniques
Red chalk, pen and ink, some wash and white heightening; squared in red chalk and the outlines incised.
Measurements
20.2 x 16.0 cm, upper right corner torn away (sheet of paper)
