Cesare Rossetti

Sir Joshua Reynolds (L.2364);
D. Kaïeman, Brussels,
his sale, Paris, 27 April 1858, lot 91 (as Girolamo Marchesi);
Abbé Thuliez (L.2395b);
sale, New York, Christie's, 24 January 2001, lot 26 (as Roman School, late 16th Century)

Hinge mounted. There is a small loss to the upper right edge of the sheet and a small tear to the lower right section. There is an old horizontal fold mark across the centre of the sheet and some light abrasions to the sheet's extremities. There is an old tear to the upper section of the sheet and a small pin prick hole to the left edge. The white heightening has partially oxidised in places. The pen and ink medium is still strong throughout.
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This is by the same hand as a drawing in the British Museum, Christ at the Column, which was formerly attributed to Giovanni Baglione but subsequently catalogued by Nicholas Turner as attributed to Cesare Rossetti.¹  Another in the British Museum, attributed to Rossetti by Gere and Pouncey, is also stylistically close to the present work, although it is executed in red and black chalk.²  

According to the biographer Baglione, Rossetti, who was probably born around 1565, started his career in the pontificate of Sixtus V (1585-90) and his drawings show the influence of Cavalier d'Arpino.  Gere and Pouncey mention two scenes of martyrdom by Rossetti in the chapel of St. Barbara in S. Maria in Traspontina, Rome, perhaps based on designs by Arpino, and Rossetti also executed mosaics after Arpino's designs in the Vatican.³

For a further discussion of Rossetti and his graphic oeuvre, see S. Bolzoni, 'Cesare Rossetti, "amico" del Cavalier d'Arpino: un nuovo dipinto e alcune osservazioni sull'opera grafica', Storia dell'arte, vol. 136, 2013, pp. 46-64, catalogue no. 36.

1.  N. Turner, Italian Drawings in the ...British Museum, Roman Baroque Drawings, c.1620 to c.1700, London 1999, vol. I, p. 229, no. 363, reproduced vol. II, pl. 363
2.  J.A. Gere and P. Pouncey, Italian Drawings in the ...British Museum, Artists working in Rome, c.1550 to c.1640, London 1983, vol. I, p. 160, no. 260, reproduced vol. II, pl. 247
3.  Ibid.