Parmigianino

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Parmigianino

1503-1540

Group of Four Figures, Three-Quarter Length. Verso: Two Sketches of the Head of a Woman Turned to the Left, Seen from the Back

ca. 1526

Pen and brown ink, over red chalk, on paper; verso: pen and brown ink, over black chalk.

3 1/4 x 2 7/8 inches (83 x 74 mm)

Purchased by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1909.

I, 46a

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Description:

This study has been connected with Parmigianino’s drawing of the Marriage of the Virgin, now in Chatsworth, which was engraved by Jacopo Caraglio around 1526.¹ The final composition includes a figure, behind the Virgin at upper right, who folds her hands across her chest like the figure in the right foreground of the Morgan study. Additionally, in both the Chatsworth drawing and the engraving, a prominent figure in the left middle ground turns her head at an angle much like the sketches on the verso of the Morgan sheet. A similarly turned head reoccurs in a small sketch in the British Museum and in another compositional drawing for the Marriage of the Virgin, now in the École des Beaux-Arts, Paris.² Two further drawings in the Morgan’s collection relate to the engraved composition.³

Footnotes:

The Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth, inv. 339; Jaffé 1994, 244, no. 677. For the print, see The Illustrated Bartsch 28: 77, no. 1.
British Museum, London, inv. 1910-2-12-34; Popham 1971, 1: 99, no. 218. École des Beaux-Arts, Paris, inv. 223; Popham 1971, 1: 166, no. 521.
Morgan Library & Museum, New York, inv. I, 46b and I, 48.

Notes:

Watermark: none.

Inscription:

Inscribed on verso, at upper left, in graphite, "1679".

Provenance:

Sir Charles Greville (1763-1832; English officer, Lugt 549); George Guy Greville, fourth Earl of Warwick (1818-1893; Lugt 2600); possibly his sale, Christie's, London, 21 May 1896, lot 259, one of three drawings, as Parmegiano "The Virgin and Child with St. John - black chalk and sepia; and two pen and ink sketches"; Charles Fairfax Murray (1849-1919), London and Florence; from whom purchased through Galerie Alexandre Imbert, Rome, in 1909 by Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913), New York (no mark; see Lugt 1509); his son, J. P. Morgan, Jr. (1867-1943), New York.

Associated names:

Greville, Charles, 1762-1832, former owner.
Warwick, George Guy Greville, Earl of, 1818-1893, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography:

Selected references: Popham 1971, 1: 121, no. 304; Jaffé 1994(a), 244, no. 677; Gnann 1996, 362; Gnann 2000, 70; Gnann 2007, 1: 412, no. 396.

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