Baldassare Franceschini, called Il Volterrano Volterra 1611 - 1689 Florence

Both the recto and the verso are preparatory studies for two different figures in Volterrano's fresco of Francesco Medici receiving homage from the Florentines (fig.1), part of the decoration of the courtyard at the Villa Petraia, near Florence.  Volterrano, commissioned by Don Lorenzo de' Medici, painted two groups of frescoes beneath the twin loggias of the villa's internal courtyard between 1636 and 1648.  The many drawings related to the commission demonstrate that Volterrano prepared every scene with great care: each figure was first studied in the nude, as we see in the present sheet, and then clothed.  The recto relates quite closely to the figure of the soldier wearing armour in the left foreground of the scene.  A study sold in these Rooms, 25 January 2002, lot 13, shows the same figure with some differences, and clothed.  It is interesting to note, however, that the present study is actually closer to the final fresco, which demonstrates that Volterrano continued to rethink as he devised the complex composition crowded with numerous figures.  The verso is a study for the dignitary climbing towards the seated figure of Francesco Medici to the right of the composition.