Attributed to Bernardino Barbatelli, known as Poccetti
San Mariano di Valdelsa, 1548 – Florence, 1612
An archbishop surrounded by two churchmen
Drapery sketch ( on the back )
Red chalk on black chalk lines.
Composition inscribed in a semicircle
182 x 295 mm – 7 3/16 x 11 5/8 in.
Inscription in pencil on the back on the right : del Sarto.
Provenance :
- Stamp ( FFS ) on the back at the bottom left.
- Paris, Baron Ribeyre & Associés sale, April 12, 2013, n ° 12.
- Paris, Piasa sale, December 4, 2002, n ° 5.
- Paris, Million sale, November 26, 2021, n ° 6 ( as entourage of Agnolo known as Andrea del Sarto ).
Our sheet represents, in the center, an archbishop, recognizable by his miter and his patriarchal cross with two sleepers, surrounded by two churchmen studying. The composition, in a semicircle, suggests that this is a preparatory study for a lunette decorated with a fresco for a church or a cloister. We propose to attribute this sheet to Bernardino Poccetti who was inspired in the manner of the Florentine grand master Andrea del Sarto, from whom he retained in particular the great mastery of execution of the drapery. After his stay in Rome in 1579-1580, Pocceti devoted himself to fresco decoration which constituted the main part of his activity, working in particular on the six lunettes of the Chiostro Grande of S. Maria Novella ( 1582 ), at the Oratory of S. Pierino ( 1585 ) and at the Sala Grande du Palais Capponi ( 1583-1587 ). In the years 1590-1600, he was very closed to the Chartreux, of which he decorated the convents of Florence, Pisa and Siena. In 1591, he began the cycle of frescoes on the life of Saint Bruno at the chartreuse of the Val d’Ema in Galluzzo then, from 1604 to 1612, he made fourteen lunettes for the Chiostro Grande of the SS. Annunziata. We were unable to relate this study to a known fresco. It could nevertheless be part of a Florentine iconographic cycle, perhaps around Saint Antonin – Antonio Pierozzi de Forciglioni – born in 1389 in Florence, religious in the Dominican order who became archbishop in 1446. Bernardino Poccetti notably produced, in Chiostro di Sant’Antonino, a fresco cycle relating the life and miracles of the saint.
Condition report – Small spot, small tear restored.
