Object details
Accession number
1.2.o.17
Primary Creator
Agnolo Bronzino
(Monticelli, 1503 - 1572, Florence)
Full title
Study for a Figure in the Resurrection Altarpiece, Church of the Annunziata, Florence
Creation Date
about 1548-1552
Provenance
Collection of Sir Joshua Reynolds (1723–1792), painter, collector, and writer, London.Collection of Sir John Charles Robinson (1824–1913), museum curator, collector, and connoisseur, London.Purchased by the art dealers Thomas Agnew & Sons, London, 1901-2. Purchased by Isabella Stewart Gardner at auction from the sale of Sir John Charles Robinson's collection at Christie, Manson and Woods, London on 13 May 1902 for £160 through Thomas Agnew & Sons, lot 218. (as a work by Michelangelo)
Marks
Watermark: Crown surmounted by a five-point star [Briquet 4833 (Lucca, 1549)]Inscribed in pen and brown ink (lower left corner): J.C.R. [collector's mark of Sir John Charles Robinson, Lugt 1433]Inscribed in pen and brown ink, in an old hand (upper right corner): Michelangelo BuonarrotiIlluminated in UV (upper right): Mich. Ang. Buonar Stamped in black ink (lower left corner): SRTR Blind stamped (lower left corner): JR [collector's mark of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Lugt 2364]Stamped in black and blue ink respectively (recto, lower right and verso, lower left): ISG [in an oval, collector's mark of Isabella Stewart Gardner] Inscribed on the old mount in ink: Michelangelo BounarotaInscribed on affixed framer's label on backing (verso): Art Mounting / And Framing. / Drawings, Etchings & Mezzotints Cleaned and Repaired. / Collections arranged and put in order. / Robert Guerault / No. 10 Hollywood Road / South Kensington / London SW
Dimensions
27.4 x 40.1 cm (10 13/16 x 15 13/16 in.)
Display Media
Black chalk on off-white laid paper; the central figure has been reinforced at a later date with pencil
Dimension Notes
Frame: 53.3 x 67.9 cm (21 x 26 3/4 in.)
Web Commentary
The son of a butcher, Bronzino’s artistic talents propelled him from poverty to an illustrious life at court. As official painter to Duke Cosimo I of Florence, his dazzling portraits and altarpieces united meticulous brushwork and precise draftsmanship. This preparatory sketch, drawn from life, studies one soldier for an image of The Resurrection, an altarpiece in Florence.
Gardner valued it not only as a Bronzino, but also as part of the extraordinary collection of drawings assembled by the English portraitist Sir Joshua Reynolds. Curiously, although Gardner managed to acquire many exceptional drawings, they were seemingly not an enduring interest of hers. All of the drawing’s featured in this show were acquired at a single sale in 1902.
Permanent Gallery Location
Short Gallery
Bibliography
A.C. de Poggi. A Catalogue of the first part of the Cabinet of Ancient Drawings, which belonged to Sir Joshua Reynolds... (London, 26 May 1794). (one of thirty-one lots of drawings by Michelangelo without descriptions: 1,11,15, 29, 32, 47, 57, 67, 78, 94, 98, 108, 118, 124, 130, 131, 141, 148, 152, 155, 161, 168, 182-184, 194, 212-214, 224, 225)
Christie, Manson and Woods. Catalogue of a Valuable Collection of Drawings by Old Masters Formed by a Well-Known Amateur During the Last Forty Years (London, 12-14 May 1902), p. 25, lot 218. (as Michelangelo, Study for the "Jonah" in the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel)
Rollin van N. Hadley (ed.). Drawings: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1968), pp. 22-23, no. 10. (as Bronzino)
Craig Hugh Smyth. Bronzino as Draughtsman: An Introduction (Locust Valley, NY, 1971), pp. 43-44, 78, no. 206. (as workshop of Bronzino)
Rollin van N. Hadley. Museums Discovered: The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston, 1981), pp. 66-67. (as Bronzino)
Hilliard Goldfarb. Italian Renaissance Drawings, Medals, and Books. Exploring Treasures in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum I. Exh. cat. (Boston: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1991), p. 11. (as Bronzino)
Hilliard Goldfarb et al. Italian Paintings and Drawings Before 1800 in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Unpublished manuscript. (Boston, 1996-2000). (as Bronzino)
Carmen C. Bambach (ed.). The Drawings of Bronzino. Exh. cat. (New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2010), pp. 200-201, no. 51. (as Bronzino)
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