Cherubino Alberti
Borgo Sansepolcro 1553 – Rome 1615
A Seated Putto (recto); Study for a frieze of putti (verso)
Black chalk (recto); black chalk, pen and black ink (verso).
129 x 93 mm – 5 1/16 x 3 10/16 in.
Born into an artistic family, Cherubino Alberti was the second son of Alberto Alberti, a carver and a painter, and the brother of Alessandro and Giovanni Alberti, both painters.
Cherubino spent his career in Rome as a painter, engraver and military designer. A pupil of Cornelis Cort in Rome, he was mainly influenced by the works of Agostino Carracci, Francesco Villamena, Taddeo and Federico Zuccaro which he reproduced in engravings, before concentrating on works by great masters of the Renaissance and Florentine and Roman mannerism. He took part in great fresco decors such as the one in the Vatican’s Sala Clementina. A prolific draughtsman, he developed a fluid and gracious mannerist style, enhancing his models’ muscular anatomies.
Condition report – Light foxing on the entire sheet. The upper and lower left corners are redone.
