Agostino Carracci

Jaap Wiegersma (L.1552b);
bears unidentified collector's mark, recto, partially cut off:  P.H., possibly P. Huart (L.2084), Lugt number inscribed, verso (and possible inventory number 43)

Partially laid down. Overall in fairly good condition. Very faint light scattered foxing in the upper section of the sheet. Some splashes of light brown wash lower right corner, possibly studio stains. Pen and ink remains strong and vibrant.
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The melange of lively sketches drawn on this page demonstrates Agostino’s imaginative and creative mind-set.  The artist covered many sheets with his ideas for compositions, rapidly penning his thoughts, mainly through the medium of pen and ink.  Rudolf Wittkower aptly described this process as ‘Agostino’s characteristic method of ‘taking notes’.’¹

Among the studies on this sheet are one for a Mary Magdalene, and another, in the centre of the composition, for what appears to be a St. Jerome. There is also a sketch in the upper right corner that looks like a study for God the Father.  Surrounding these religious figures are studies of ghoulish and devilish creatures and a caricature of a man seen from behind.  This eclectic mix is not unusual in Agostino’s working drawings where we see a range of studies from caricatures and doodles to figure studies for other compositions.  This sheet is not as densely populated as some, where the artist often turned the sheet in different directions to maximise all areas of the paper.

Comparable sheets of studies by Agostino are in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, which houses the largest group of the artist's works of this type.²  The majority of the Windsor drawings have been dated to the mid-1590s and it seems plausible that our drawing dates from the same period.

Aidan Weston-Lewis has confirmed the attribution to Agostino in correspondence with the present owner.  He highlights the physiognomic types and configuration of the drapery and the rather bizarre progressive evolution of the little devil/monster in a series of sketches, which he states are all characteristic of Agostino’s technique.

1. R. Wittkower, The Drawings of The Carracci in The Collection of Her Majesty The Queen at Windsor Castle, London 1952, p. 117
2. Ibid, pp. 117-122