Watermark: none.
The drawing on the recto is the only one that can be attributed to Spinello Aretino. It was most likely a study for his last major fresco cycle, the history of the Sienese Pope Alexander III, commisioned in 1407 and begun in early 1408, in the Sala di Balia of the Palazzo Pubblico in Siena. The fresco cycle, begun when the artist was 75 years of age, was produced in collaboration with his son Parri.
Inscribed at upper right, in pen and brown ink, "[Com]e papa alesandro udendo emiracoli di s[an]c[t]o tomaso di contorbio / s[?] lo canonizz ̣[or candilizzo]".
Spinelli, Parri, 1387-1453.
Masson, Jean, 1856-1933, former owner.
Murray, Charles Fairfax, 1849-1919, former owner.
Morgan, J. Pierpont (John Pierpont), 1837-1913, former owner.
Rhoda Eitel-Porter and and John Marciari, Italian Renaissance Drawings at the Morgan Library & Museum, New York, 2019, no. 5.
Selected references: Fairfax Murray 1905-12, 2:70; Weitenkampf 1917, 79; Berenson 1938, 2: no.2756D; New York 1939, no. 65; Oertel 1940, no. 44; Tolnay 1943, no. 15; Pouncey 1946, 168-72; Popham and Pouncey 1950, no. 271; Borsook 1960, 21; Berenson 1961, 2: no. 2756d; Miotti 1962, 92; Tintori and Meiss 1962, 29; Oertel 1966, 228n37; Degenhart and Schmitt 1968-2010, 1: no. 165; Zucker 1969, 400-404; Zucker 1973, 208-12; Boskovits 1975, 439; Tavenner Rajam 1977, 123, 134-36; Southard Carter 1979, 379; Borsook 1980, 38; Zucker 1981, 438n5; Brandi et al. 1983, 226; Tartuferi 1983, 14n20; Lloyd 1993, 225; Weppelmann 2003, 3-13; Weppelmann 2003a, 311-12; Weppelmann 2004, 148; Bresciani 2008, 209; London and Florence 2010-11, 46; Weppelmann 2011, 323-24.
Collection J. Pierpont Morgan : Drawings by the Old Masters Formed by C. Fairfax Murray. London : Privately printed, 1905-1912, II, intro. 3rd page; no. 70, repr.