One of a group of three drawings in the Morgan’s collection that were reproduced in photographs in the dealer Stefano Bardini’s archive in Florence, and therefore probably once owned by him.1 The drawing shows two alternative designs for the lateral sections that jut forward: on the left just with an ornamental panel, on the right with a standing saint holding a cross in a niche. For lack of a better alternative the drawing is still placed as anonymous, Lombard school, ca. 1500-10.
Footnotes:
- Fahy 2000, 60. See also Morgan Library & Museum, New York, inv. I, 9 and I, 81.
Marcello Calogero has recognized that this is one of four drawings at the Morgan (including I, 8; I, 9; I, 43; and I, 81) -- all previously anonymous -- that can be attributed to the goldsmith and sculptor Bartolomeo Spani. The four sheets, and two others whose present whereabouts are unknown, were framed together when in the collection of Stefano Bardini in Florence. See Fahy, Everett, Dipinti, disegni, miniature, stampe / di Everett Fahy (Firenze: A. Bruschi, 2000), 60.
Inscribed in lower right corner, in graphite, "5"; on verso, in graphite, "m B / 5".
Watermark: Two crossed arrows. (cf. Briquet 6300).
Master of the Codex Escurialensis, Circle of, Formerly attributed to.
Anonymous, Italian School, 16th cent., Formerly attributed to.
Bardini, Stefano, 1836-1922, 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.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, I, 43. (as Lombard School, ca. 1500)
Fahy, Everett. Dipinti, disegni, miniature, stampe / di Everett Fahy. Firenze: A. Bruschi, 2000, 60, no. 651 (as circle of the Master of the Codex Escurialensis).