Carlo Maratti

Carlo Maratti typically executed multiple preparatory sketches for any particular painted composition, sometimes including several versions on the same sheet, as seen in Two Studies for "The Death of Saint Joseph." These studies depict the death of Joseph in the presence of Christ and the Virgin with angels, a story taken from the apocryphal book of the History of Joseph the Carpenter. The sketches are quite similar in conception, although the sketch on the right reverses the scene on the left. The sketch on the right also includes a cherub who appears to be holding a flowering rod, one of Joseph's attributes. A solitary sketch of Joseph's upturned face appears in the right margin. Maratti's pen and ink sketches reveal a hasty, free style distinct from his more finished-looking works in chalk. The sketches are early studies for Maratti's 1676 painting, The Death of Saint Joseph, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (inv. 534; Pigler 1956, p. 436). The composition of the left sketch is closest to the painting's composition, although Maratti made several changes when he painted the final version, including shifting the figure of the Virgin to the other side of Joseph's bed. Sean Leatherbury, 2009. Works cited: Alcaide, Victor Manuel Nieto. Carlo Maratti, cuarenta y tres dibujos de tema religioso (Madrid, 1965); La Rome Baroque de Maratti à Piranèse. Dessins du Louvre et des collections publiques francaise (Catherine Legrand & Domitilla d'Ormesson-Peugeot, Louvre, Paris, 1990); Pigler, A. Barockthemen. Eine Auswahl von Verzeichnissen zur Ikonographie des 17. und 18. Jahrhunderts (Budapest, 1956), Vol. 1; Romische Barockzeichnungen aus dem Berliner Kupferstichkabinett (Berlin, 1969); Turner, Nicholas. Italian Drawings in the Department of Prints and Drawings in The British Museum. Roman Baroque Drawings, c. 1620 to c. 1700 (London, 1999).