多梅尼科·貝卡富米

Dr. Michel Gaud
Sold: Sotheby's Monaco, June 20, 1987, lot 40
Acquired at the above sale by A. Alfred Taubman

Siena, Palazzo Pubblico, L'Arte a Siena sotto i Medici 1555-1609, 1980, no. 6

Andrea De Marchi, in Domenico Beccafumi e il suo tempo (exhibition catalogue), Pinacoteca Nazionale di Siena et al., Siena, 1990, under no. 97 (wrongly identified as an Annunciation)
Piero Torriti, Beccafumi, Venice, 1998, p. 258, under D35

Laid down. Lightly foxed throughout. Sheet a little discoloured, especially towards edges. Small made up losses, left edge. Ink still in reasonable condition. Sold in an elaborate carved and gilded frame
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

A characteristic quick sketch in the eccentric graphic style of this powerful Sienese master, this composite study by Beccafumi depicts in the bottom half of the sheet two versions of an arched altarpiece representing a Nativity.  Both these preliminary designs are preparatory for Beccafumi’s Nativity, in the third chapel to the left in the church of San Martino, Siena (fig. 1).  This handsome and striking panel painting must have been executed just after the completion of the marble altar for the same chapel, commissioned by Anastasia di Nanni Marsili, the widow of Ugolino Ugolini, in January 1522.  The commission provides a terminus post quem for the dating of the present sheet and the other known, related studies.  

Beccafumi seems first to have drawn the study of The Sacrifice of Isaac in the upper half of the sheet , which does not seem to relate to any surviving work by the master, and then to have sketched the two Nativities below, variations on the same theme, starting from the left.  The right-hand sketch relates more closely to the painted version in San Martino.  Here the triumphal arch in the background appears in the center of the whole composition, instead of on the right hand side as seen in the other sketch, resulting in a more monumental and meaningful image.  The inclusion of a classic triumphal arch is rather unusual, but appears to be a very effective architectural feature to enhance the Nativity scene, with the Christ Child in the center.  The imposing, partly ruined, monument serves both as a reminder of past Roman glories, and as a backdrop for the advent of Christianity.

 

The present sheet is executed in Beccafumi's preferred medium of pen and ink and delicately applied wash.  The responsiveness of the pen made it his preferred instrument for expressing the inventions of his spontaneous, fast-paced, and eccentric mind.  Here the artist is quickly putting on paper a flow of ideas, with almost no interruptions, revolving around his typically mannered and elongated figures, built up with multi-directional shading of similar width, used for internal modeling.  These pen strokes Beccafumi enhanced with delicately applied wash, creating clearly defined areas of light and shade, allowing us to distinguish the variety of individual figures, even in the two small and crowded compositional studies.

Four other studies relating to this commission are known:  two, surely autograph, are in the Uffizi (inv. nos. 10748 F and 10754 F; see exhibition catalogue, Siena, 1990, op. cit., p. 437, reproduced fig. 97 r and p. 438, reproduced fig. 98), while two others, the attribution of which has been rightly doubted by Andrea De Marchi (see Literature), are in the Biblioteca Comunale, Siena (vol. S-III-2; see D. Sanminiatelli, Domenico Beccafumi, Milan, 1967, p. 162, nos. 111 and 112, one reproduced 112 v).  The most interesting of these other drawings is a handsome compositional study in the Uffizi, for the group of figures to the left of the painted panel, including the figure of St. Joseph in the foreground (inv. no. 10748 F).  This represents an intermediate stage between the two sketches in the present sheet.  The other Uffizi sheet (inv. no. 10754 F) has been considered a discarded idea for the figure of St. Joseph, which was possibly reused for the figure of the shepherd resting on a stick, visible in the middle of the triumphal arch.  The two superficially executed drawings in the Biblioteca di Siena, rightly doubted, are instead very quick compositional studies for this same Nativity. They show the same changes in the position of the triumphal arch as seen in the two studies in the present sheet. 

The corpus of drawings by Beccafumi is small and his works, painted or drawn, are very rare.  The artist ranks, though, as a leading protagonist of early Mannerism and one of its most inventive and experimental personalites.  His artistic beginnings remain something of a mystery and his style, which was very influential, is totally individual.  Beccafumi worked for most of his life in his native city of Siena, where he was celebrated both as a painter and as a sculptor – like some earlier Sienese artists, including Vecchietta and Francesco di Giorgio.  His most ambitious work as a sculptor, which unfortunately has not survived, was an equestrian portrait of the Emperor Charles V, commissioned in 1530, and delivered in 1536, for the emperor’s visit to Siena.