Jan van der Straet, known as Giovanni Stradano, or Stradanus

Sale, London, Pall Mall, Foster's Auction Rooms, 7 July 1937, (pencil inscription on the old backing: bought at Foster's Auction Rooms,/Pall Mall/ 7July 1937/as by Mantovano/H.D. Gronau);
Hans Dietrich Gronau (1904-1951) (bears his mark, not in Lugt, on the front and the back of the old mount),
Mrs. H.D. Gronau (see exhib. label on the verso from the Manchester City Art Gallery) 

Manchester, City Art Gallery, Between Renaissance and Baroque, 1965, no. 390 (as Giorgio Vasari);
Edinburgh, The Merchants' Hall, Italian 16th-Century Drawings from British Private Collections, 1969, p. 39, reproduced pl. 53  

G. Thiem, 'Vasaris Entwürfe für die Gemälde in der Sala Grande des Palazzo Vecchio zu Florenz', Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte, XXIII, 1960, p. 107 ff., reproduced (as Vasari);
W. Vitzthum, Reviews,  'Paola Barocchi: Vasari Pittore; Complementi al Vasari Pittore; Mostra di disegni del Vasari', Master Drawings, vol. III, no. 1, 1965, p. 55;
S. Béguin, Reviews, 'Between Renaissance and Baroque', Master Drawings, 1966, vol. IV, no. 1, p. 57;
E. Pillsbury, 'The Sala Grande drawings by Vasari and his workshop some documents and new attributions', Master Drawings, XIV, 1976, p. 133;
A. Cecchi, in A. Allegri and A. Cecchi, Palazzo Vecchio e i Medici. Guida Storica, Florence 1980, no. 54 (25);
A. Baroni Vannucci, Jan Van der Straet detto Giovanni Stradano, Milan 1997, p. 193, no. 99, reproduced fig. 99;
F. Härb, The Drawings of Giorgio Vasari (1511-1574), Rome 2015, p. 439, and note 726

Laid down on an old mount. Overall quite good condition. Some rubbing along the margins especially along the right margin, and at the top and bottom. At the top margin a tiny loss and some staining. Another small loss to the top left margin and at the bottom corner a round grey stain of about 1 cm. a stain. Surface dirt. Sold in a wooden painted and gilded frame in a renaissance style.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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This very elaborate and complete composition is a preparatory modello by Stradanus for one of the four square scenes, on panel, that are arranged around the centre in the decorative scheme of the ceiling of the Sala dei Cinquecento or Sala Grande, in Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (fig. 1). This ambitious cycle, ultimately consisting of no fewer than 39 paintings, was designed by Vasari in consultation with the humanist Vincenzo Borghini, to commemorate and celebrate in the broadest way Cosimo de’Medici’s military feats.  The subject of the present drawing and the related painting, taken from the late 13^th-century history of Florence, is Arnolfo di Cambio presenting the plan for the enlargement of the city of Florence. 

When first published in 1960 by Günther Thiem in his article on the decoration of the Sala Grande, the present drawing was believed to be by Vasari himself, on the basis of the author’s belief that the activity of the workshop was limited to the painted work, and did not extend to any of the preparatory drawings.  The name of Stradanus for this sheet and others was first suggested on stylistic grounds by Walter Vitzthum, in his review of Paola Barocchi’s monograph on Vasari.  It was Barocchi who first recognised the possibility that Vasari might have turned to some of his most talented pupils, most notably Stradanus, to elaborate his preliminary sketches into finished compositional models like the present work.  She pointed out that the finished modelli for The Siege of Montereggioni, in the Kunstakademie in Stockholm, and The Taking of Portercole, in the Farnesina, did not appear to be by Vasari but rather by Stradanus.¹  Vitzthum convincingly added eight additional compositional studies, pointing out that the majority of these sheets had in fact been traditionally attributed to the Flemish master.  Subsequently, Pillsbury, in his own article on the drawings for the Sala Grande, proposed to attribute a further three sheets to Stradanus, also on stylistic grounds.  At present sixteen of these finished compositional studies are known.²  As noted by Florian Härb in his recent catalogue raisonné of Vasari’s drawings, Stradanus was Vasari’s principal assistant, both in the preparation and in the execution of the ceiling decorations of the Sala Grande, as is documented by the substantial number of surviving drawings by the artist that relate to this project.  It seems that Stradanus’s principal task was to elaborate Vasari’s sketches into finished sheets such as this, which would then be used as a guide in producing the cartoon for the final painted work, though as Härb also noted: ‘Stradanus’s role was not limited to elaborating Vasari’s sketches. Several drawings prove his involvement in the early phase of the development of some of the compositions.’ ³

Technically, Stradanus demonstrates in the present modello all his great ability in the use of pen and ink, embellished by abundant wash, and also his skill in creating different planes within the composition, especially important in ensuring the readability of the scene once it was painted on the coffered ceiling, some seven metres above the viewer.  Taking the ultimate destination of the composition into account, the artist has strongly emphasised the foreground figures, which are boldly drawn on a much larger scale than the rest of the composition.  The painting has been arranged into three separate sections, representing three different moments in the narrative.  In the foreground, Arnolfo di Cambio presents the plan of the new walls to the Signoria, while in the centre the bishop of Florence blesses the first stone laid, as work begins on the Porta San Frediano.  Finally, in the top section of the drawing, we see an exquisite and detailed view of the enlarged city of Florence, in which some of the city’s important buildings are readily visible, including Palazzo Vecchio itself (though not, of course, Brunelleschi’s dome surmounting the Duomo, which was only completed more than a century after the moment depicted in this composition).  A compositional study for The Triumph of the Florentines after the capture of Pisa, in the Istituto Nazionale della Grafica, can be closely compared to the present study.⁴

Cosimo de’Medici commissioned Vasari to decorate the Sala Grande, in Palazzo Vecchio, at the end of the 1562 or the beginning of 1563.  Vasari revised the iconographical programme of the complex coffered ceiling at least three times, and these three different schemes are documented in works preserved in the Uffizi and the Archivio di Stato, Florence,⁵ which can be dated between January 1563 and the autumn of 1564.  These records document not only the evolution of the programme, but also the close personal involvement of Cosimo, who made numerous, and important, modifications to the project along the way.  The subject of the present sheet is included in all three versions of the scheme.  The Sienese sculptor Arnolfo di Cambio worked in Florence, mainly as an architect, from 1294 to 1295, and played an important part in the design of the Duomo.  The thirty-nine panels of the coffered ceiling were painted between 1563 and 1565, and the ceiling was unveiled on 21 December 1565, on the occasion of the wedding of Francesco I Medici and Johanna of Austria. 

It is very plausible that the present study was executed by Stradanus before August 1563, when painting began, and it bears witness to the major role played by the artist in the completion of this elaborate and ambitious work, in which he was clearly involved in the design process, the only one of Vasari's assistants who is known to have been involved in this phase of the work.   

Having trained with Pieter Aertsen in his native Flanders, Stradanus arrived in Florence, via Venice, in 1545, and was based in the city until his death.  He was quickly recruited into the ranks of Cosimo’s recently established 'Arazzeria Medicea'.  In the late 1550s, after a few years in Rome, he became a principal assistant of Giorgio Vasari.  Stradanus was very successful in infusing his own distinctive Northern flavour into the Italian style of Vasari and his workshop, which he had otherwise so thoroughly assimilated.  He still retained his distinct Flemish accent, and a certain richness of detail which characterizes so many of his handsome tapestry designs.

^1. Stockholm, Kunstakademie, inv. no. P7:21, and Rome, Istituto Nazionale della Grafica, inv. no. 124266; see P. Barocchi, Vasari Pittore, Milan 1964, p. 59

^2. For a detailed account see F. Härb, loc. cit.

^3.  Ibid., p. 440

^4. Rome, Istituto Nazionale della Grafica, inv. no. FC. 127654; see S. Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, The Golden Age of Florentine Drawings, exhib. cat., The Art Institute of Chicago, 1994, p. 58, reproduced p. 59

^5. Florence, Archivio di Stato, Mediceo del Principato, Cart. Univ. 497A, fol. 1597; Florence, Uffizi inv. no. 7979A; Florence, Archivio di Stato, Carte Strozziane, 1a serie, CXXXIII, fol.141; for an image of the three schemes, see F. Härb, op. cit., p. 434, fig. 3, p. 435, fig. 4, p. 437, fig. 6