As Alfred Scharf first observed, the drawing is a study for a fresco, dated 1545, over the altar of the oratory at the Villa Rosselli del Turco (now Franceschi-Rumi) in Poggio alla Noce, near Ponte a Ema.1 The fresco represents a fictive triptych: at center the Crucifixion of Christ with Saints Jerome and Francis, in the side panels Saint Michael and Tobias and the angel; the sottarco shows a cross and cherubim. Above the niche are, at left, the Virgin Annunciate, at right, the Archangel Gabriel, and at the top, the dove of the holy spirit.2
Often confused with Jacopo da Pontormo, Foschi was, according to Vasari, a disciple of Andrea del Sarto.3 Until 1957, when the artist’s name was established as Foschi, he was misidentified as Toschi because of an incorrect reading of a document.4 One of his last commissions was to participate in the ephemeral decorations for the wedding of Joanna of Austria to Francesco I de’ Medici in 1565, for which the Morgan possesses a drawing by Giovanni Maria Butteri.5
Foschi’s drawings are rare (there are fewer than ten), and studies for known works even rarer.6 A study, now in the Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford, is preparatory to Foschi’s altarpiece with Saints Peter and Filippo Benizzi in the church of San Benedetto in San Frediano a Settimo, Pisa.7 A study in black chalk by Foschi for the Creation of Adam in the British Museum was once also in the collection of Alfred Scharf.8
Footnotes:
- Pouncey 1958, 158.
- Giglioli 1938, 29, fig. 4; Waldman 2001, 28, fig. 14.
- Vasari 1878-85, 5: 58.
- Sanminiatelli 1957, 55-57.
- Morgan Library & Museum, New York, inv. 1950.3.
- Pouncey 1958, 158-59.
- Christ Church Picture Gallery, Oxford, inv. 1143; Pinelli 1967, 91-92.
- British Museum, London, inv. 1969-9-20-10; London 1986, no. 116.
Numbered "15".
Watermark: none.
The drawing is a study for a fresco over the altar of the oratory in the Villa Rosselli del Turco (now Franceschi) at Poggio alla Noce, dated 1545. It represents a fictive triptych: at center the Crucifixion with Saints Jerome and Francis, in the sidepanels Saints Michael and Tobias and the angel, with figures adoring the cross in a roundel in a cove, and roundels of the Angel of the Annunciation and the Virgin Annunciate above. Often confused with Pontormo, Foschi is from Florence. His drawings are rare (fewer than ten), and studies for known works even rarer. There are two drawings by him in Oxford, one at Christ Church and another in the Ashmolean Museum. Our new drawing makes an important addition to the Morgan collection, which has beautiful studies by Florentine artists but until now nothing by Foschi. Until 1957, when the artist's name was established as Foschi, he was misidentified as Toschi because of an incorrect of a document (see Donato Sanminiatelli, "Appunti: Foschi non Toschi," Paragone, no. 91, July 1957, pp. 55-57).
Scharf, Alfred, former owner.
Riley-Smith, Crispian, former owner.
Selected references: Pouncey 1957, 158-59; Forlani 1962, 243; Edinburgh 1969, 16-17, no. 36; Forlani Tempesti, in Florence, 1980, 117, no. 221; Petrioli Tofani 1992, 322, note 9.
M. Pouncey, "Five Drawings by Pierfrancesco di Jacopo di Domenico Toschi," The Burlington Magazine, XCVIX, 1957, p. 159, pl. 22.
A. Forlani, Disegni Italiani del cinquento, Florence, 1962, p. 243, pl. 94; Edinburgh, The Merchant's Hall, Italian 16th Century Drawings from British Private Collections, 1969, no. 36, pl. 56.
Florence, Palazzo Strozzi, Il primato del disegno, 1980, no. 221.