Annibale Carracci

Padre Sebastiano Resta;
Giovanni Matteo Marchetti, Bishop of Arezzo (d. 1704),
sold by his heir, Cavaliere Orazio Marchetti da Pistoia;
John, Lord Somers, in England by 1711 (inscribed with Resta-Somers numbering h100, in the Lansdowne manuscript as Annibale),
probably his sale, London, 6th May 1717;
Jonathan Richardson, Senior (1665-1745), London (L.2184), on his mount with attribution Annibale, and shelf marks on the reverse of the backing: Y.10/J.; 
sale, London, Christie's, 29 November 1977, lot 107

J. Wood, 'Padre Resta as a Collector of Carracci Drawings,' Master Drawings, vol. XXXIV, no. 1 (1996), p. 54, no. 78, reproduced fig. 36, note 237

Laid down on the old mount. A loss on the top right corner with three other small pin point holes and a defect in the paper like a crease. A tear at the bottom margin and two pin point holes on bottom left towards the corner. A loss thin and long about a centimeter towards the right margin, below the book to the right. Some grey staining on the lower section of the sheet, and some soiling.
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.
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This handsome study executed from life is striking in its immediacy and truth to nature.  The monk is captured reading a prayer book, unaware of the artist’s presence, the drawing encapsulating the sort of narrative from everyday life that is so typical of Annibale’s draughtsmanship, especially in his early career.  The artist captures a moment or an action, no matter how banal, always recording life around him with relentless energy, and extraordinary acumen.  Drawings such as these were executed in their own right, almost like exercises, but unfortunately not many examples have survived.  When this work appeared on the market in 1977, Sir Denis Mahon proposed a dating of circa 1585-90, but on stylistic grounds it seems more probable that it was executed slightly earlier, around 1582-83.  The handling of the red chalk, although here somewhat more robust, can be compared to Annibale’s drawing of A young man weighing meat, in the Royal Collection,¹ a preparatory study for the artist’s celebrated early painting, The Butcher’s Shop, in the collection at Christ Church, Oxford.²  The use of the red chalk is here essential but vigorous, the rapidly drawn, informal and captivating figure in profile presented with great simplicity and boldness.  The drawing also highlights Annibale’s sensitivity and psychological insight in the imitation of ‘Nature’, and is characteristic of his revolutionary approach, which was at the heart of the new figurative language that the artist introduced, in stark contrast to the formulaic Mannerism that was so much in vogue at the end of the 16^th century. 

In the 17^th century, when in the famous collection of Padre Sebastiano Resta (1635-1714), the drawing was already attributed to Annibale, as we know from the entry in the Lansdowne Manuscript, a document preserved in the British Library,³ which records the notes that Resta made about each of the drawings in the albums from his collection that were acquired by John, Lord Somers (see Literature).  Resta, a passionate collector, was an Oratorian in Santa Maria in Vallicella, Rome, and justified his collecting activities as a way of raising money for charity, promising any profits that he might make to his religious Order.  Over a long collecting career, he compiled thirteen albums containing a total of some 3,500 sheets, which included a great number of important drawings.⁴ His portrait by Carlo Maratti (1625-1713), showing him examining what must surely be one of his celebrated albums of drawings, is preserved at Chatsworth.⁵

Babette Bohn, from an image, has kindly confirmed the attribution to Annibale and agrees with the early dating of the drawing.

^1. Royal Collection, Windsor Castle, inv. no. RL 2215; see The Drawings of Annibale Carracci, exhib. cat., Washington, The National Gallery of Art, 1999-2000, cat. 1, reproduced

^2. Oxford, Christ Church Picture Gallery; D. Posner, Annibale Carracci, London 1971, vol. II, pp. 3-4, cat. no. 4

^3. London, British Library, Lansdowne MSS 802

^4. For more information on the collection of Padre Resta see also: G. Warwick, 'The Formation and Early Provenance of Padre Sebastiano Resta's Drawings Collection', Master Drawings, vol. XXXIV, (1996) no. 3, pp. 239-278

^5. M. Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings, Roman and Neapolitan Schools, 1994, p. 140, no. 261, reproduced