Federigo Barocci

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Federigo Barocci

1528-1612

Two Studies of the Head of an Infant in Profile to the Right and one of the Head of a Child Looking Down to the Left

1592-1603

Black and white chalks, colored chalks, on blue laid paper.

9 1/2 x 10 3/4 inches (241 x 272 mm)

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

IV, 155

Description:

As first noted by Olsen, the studies are quite close to flying cherubim at the very top in Barocci’s Presentation of the Virgin in the Temple, painted by Barocci for the altar of the left transept of the Chiesa Nuova in Rome and still in situ today (Emiliani 1985, II, 346-359; Turner 2000, no. 3; Emiliani 2008, 2:249-67). The two studies of the infant’s head on the left half of the sheet are probably for the head of a putto at upper left, the single large study on the right half, for the head at upper right; both are cropped by the top edge of the canvas. The painting was begun in 1592, but Barocci only completed and delivered it in 1603.

Notes:

Probable watermark on lining.

Inscription:

Inscribed on verso of lining, at center, in graphite, probably by J. Bailey, "JB / Vol.II no.16".

Provenance:

Unidentified collector (partially effaced mark, double circle in black ink, at lower right); J. Bailey (Lugt 1412); Whitehead sale, London, Parsons Peter and Colnaghi, 13 May 1903, lot 27, as "Federico Baroccio. Heads of Angels in coloured chalks (2); unsold, £1.5.0"; 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:

Bayley, John, -1869, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.

Bibliography:

Olsen 1962, 192, no. 46; Cleveland and New Haven 1978, 89, no. 68; Emiliani 2008, 2:265, no. 72:56.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, IV, 155.

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