FRA SEMPLICE DA VERONA | Study of the Virgin holding a white cloth

Giuseppe Vallardi (1784-1863), Milan (L. 1691, avèc son numero, en sanguine, verso : D.415, et l'attribution, probablement aussi de Vallardi, egalement en sanguine au verso : Massimo Stanzione) ; 
Carlo Prayer (1856-1900), Milan (L. 2044) ; 
Giuseppe Pacini, Italie XIX^e siècle (L. 2011) ; 
Collection G. Locarno (mort vers 1868), Milan (L. 1691) ; 
Collection J.et F. Bernasconi (une inscription en stylo bleu et la date de 1977, au verso) ;
Vente anonyme, Londres Christie's, 8 décembre 1987, n°34 (comme Attribué à Giacomo Cavedone), repr. ;
Vente anonyme, New York, Christie's, 30 janvier 1998, n°56 ; 
Paris, galerie Prouté, 1999, n°4, repr. ; 
Acquis auprès de cette galerie en 1999.

Rennes, 2012, n°16 (notice par Stefan Morét);
Rennes, Musée des Beaux-Arts, L'Oeil et la Passion 2, 2015, n°4

D. Lachenmann, 'Two Preparatory Studies by Fra Semplice da Verona,' Master Drawings, XXX, n°2, 1992, p.211, note 10 ;
D. Benati, "Quadri e disegni di Fra Semplice da Verona", Arte Cristiana, N.S. 82, 1994, p.432 ; 
M. Di Giampaolo, "Fra Semplice da Verona: ancora un disegno per la pala del Rendetore", Arte Veneta, n°62, 2005, pp.118-119.

Hinge mounted to a decorative mount, which has in turn been hinged to a modern mount. There is some very minor surface dirt to the sheet and a small brown studio stain to the lower right corner and some horizontal creasing to the lower edge. Otherwise the drawing remains in very fine condition with the medium fresh throughout. Sold unframed.
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Fra Semplice da Verona’s graphic oeuvre is perhaps best characterised today by his highly recognisable drawings of monks and other religious figures, frequently drawn in a distinctive combination of black, red and white chalk on blue-grey paper. This was, however, not always the case as within a few years of his death circa 1654, Fra Semplice’s reputation as an artist was almost entirely forgotten. Indeed it was not until the early 20^th Century that his work as a painter began to be rediscovered, yet in spite of this it took until 1992, and David Lachenmann’s succinct but illuminating article on two of the artist’s connected chalk studies, to re-establish his distinctive voice in 17^th Century Italian art. Though Fra Semplice received important commissions in the early years of his career from the courts of Mantua, Modena and Parma, it was his work for the Capuchin order, of which he himself was a member, that resulted in his most lasting artistic legacy. In 1625, the Capuchin friar, Felix of Cantalice (1515-1587) was beatified, resulting in the Capuchin order commissioning from Fra Semplice a number of paintings depicting scenes and miracles from Felix’s life.

The present work, executed in the artist’s preferred combination of media, is a particularly fascinating example due to the fact that it is preparatory for the figure of the Madonna, in one of the artist’s most important commissions for his Order, Felix of Cantalice receiving Christ from the Madonna, now housed in the Church of the Most Holy Redeemer, Venice. Though Fra Semplice executed a number of paintings of this subject, many of which share an enormous amount in compositional terms, the unique positioning of the Madonna’s hand in the Adrien drawing is such that there can be no doubt of its connection with the painting in Venice (Fig.1).

For a compositional drawing preparatory for the same altarpiece, see the following lot.