Giovanni Antonio Sogliani

This handsome double-sided sheet is very important to an understanding of Sogliani's working method in preparation for a painting. Both recto and verso are related to a lost altarpiece reproduced in a 19th century print by F. Joubert, known from a photograph in the Witt Library (fig. 1).  At that time, the altarpiece was in the Coesvelt Collection, London. It was included in two of the Coesvelt sales: London, Christie's, 3 June 1837, lot 18 and 13 June 1840, lot 50, but has since disappeared.  Both the print and the sale catalogues identify the altarpiece as the work of Fra Bartolommeo and note that the altarpiece was executed for the convent of San Marco in Florence, removed by the French in the Napoleonic period and brought to Paris, where it was restored by Hacquin who transferred it into canvas. Chris Fisher informed us in 2001 that there is no reference to such a painting by Fra Bartolommeo in the records of the convent of San Marco and that therefore the provenance given in the 19th century appears to be apocryphal.

It is not at all surprising that the better known Fra Bartolommeo was believed to be responsible for the painting, but this drawing proves that it was in fact by Sogliani. The compositional study on the verso is very rare among Sogliani's surviving drawings which are more often of single figures. It shows important differences with the composition recorded by Joubert in which the Madonna and Child are less distant, the steps leading to the throne have been removed, and St John the Baptist is seen in profile. These differences suggest that this drawing represents an intermediary stage in Sogliani's development of the composition.

The handsome head on the recto, which fills the page, relates to the figure of St. Paul conversing with St Peter, to the left of the Virgin and Child. Both recto and verso are entirely characteristic of Sogliani's chalk style and the head on the recto shows the influence of Andrea del Sarto as well as of Fra Bartolommeo on Sogliani.  The boldness of the execution and the accuracy in details make this one of Sogliani's most impressive known drawings.