Detail, Jesus Preaching
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Catalogue Number: 46
Artist: Bernardino Poccetti (Barbatelli) (1548-1612)
Title: Detail, Jesus Preaching, Preparatory drawing for Large Cloister, Santa Maria Novella, Florence
Work Type: Drawing
Date: 16th Century
Culture: Italian
Medium:
Brown ink on laid paper
Dimensions:
9 1/8 X 6 1/2 in.
Inscriptions and Annotations:
Drawing inscribed —- Bernardino Poccetti nel[?]chiostri di Sa. Maria / novella (brown ink); Saint Peter pinned for pouncing; Annotated J 12 (in oval) / 39 (graphite
Watermark:
Soaring eagle encircled below a crown, Florence, 1588 (Heawood, 1256)
Condition:
Lower left corner restored, minor spotting and water stains, generally intact and stable
Credit Line:
Cornell College, Gift of Robert Sonnenschein II
Accession Year:
1951
Object Number:
1951.46
Commentary:
First attributed to Bernardino Poccetti and later identified as a copy after Poccetti in 1996. The attribution to Poccetti or his workshop seems likely, as the paper’s watermark indicates that it was made in Florence in 1588 at the same time Poccetti was working on the fresco cycle that dates to the 1580s. This possibly could be a preparatory drawing. The scale is only slightly smaller than Poccetti’s preparatory drawings for another lunette such as The Deaths of Ugoccione and Sostegno, 1604-1612 at the J. Paul Getty Museum.
The work is a detail that illustrates the right-hand side of a fresco lunette illustrating Jesus Preaching in the large cloister at Santa Maria Novella. The drawing itself, given its early date, is a useful source for determining how the fresco originally appeared. A later renovation destroyed part of the lunette in order to make a doorway. CMP