Parmigianino

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Parmigianino

1503-1540

The Virgin Seated with Yarnwinder, and the Infant Christ Embracing the Infant St. John. Verso: Studies of Embracing Putti

ca. 1520-1524

Red chalk on paper; framing line along lower edge in pen and brown ink; verso: red chalk.

8 1/4 x 6 inches (209 x 151 mm)

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

IV, 40

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Description:

Although Sydney Freedberg expressed some doubt about the attribution of the present drawing (unpublished opinion recorded in the curatorial file, 1948), it is likely that both sides of the sheet are original to Parmigianino, and datable to his very early career, prior to his departure for Rome in 1524.

According to David Ekserdjian, a drawing in the Frizzoni collection, Milan, given to Nicolò dell’Abate of a Woman and Two Putti may be a copy of a lost pen drawing by Parmigianino that was worked up from the Morgan sheet (unpublished opinion recorded in the curatorial file, 1987).¹ Two drawings, both now in the British Museum, London, seem to derive from the embracing putti at right in the Morgan study.² As A. E. Popham observed, the group also occurs in a painting attributed to Pomponio Allegri.³

Achim Gnann points out that the drawing is stylistically close to a copy of Raphael’s Madonna di Loreto, which is in the Louvre, Paris.⁴ The present study is also similar to another in the Morgan’s collection.⁵

Footnotes:

Frizzoni 1886, 17, no. 35.
British Museum, London, inv. Ff. 4-21, 1905-11-10-49.
Popham 1967, 1: 93, no. 165.
Louvre, Paris, inv. 3945; Gnann 2000, 50.
Morgan Library & Museum, New York, inv. IV, 41.

Inscription:

Inscribed at lower right corner, in pen and dark brown ink, "100"; beneath this, with a thinner pen and brown ink, "Francisco Parmigianino".
Watermark: Indecipherable fragment.

Provenance:

Dukes of Modena; William Young Ottley (1771-1836; Lugt 2662-2665), London; his sale, T. Philipe, London, 6 June 1814, lot 1756; Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830; Lugt 2445), London; 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.

Watermark:

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Associated names:

Modena, Dukes of, former owner.
Ottley, William Young, 1771-1836, former owner.
Lawrence, Thomas, Sir, 1769-1830, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Morgan, J. P. (John Pierpont), 1867-1943, former owner.

Bibliography:

Selected references: Ottley 1923, 62; Fairfax Murray 1905-12, 4: no. 40; Popham 1967, 1: 93, under no. 165; Popham 1971, 1: 123, no. 314; Gnann 2000, 50; Gnann 2007, 1: 377, no. 174; New York 2007, 15.
Dervaux, Isabelle. Drawing connections: Baselitz, Kelly, Penone, Rockburne, and the old masters. New York: Morgan Library & Museum, 2007, p. 15, 20 (repr.)

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