Home Online catalogues Studi & Schizzi I. Studying the Human Figure The human figure has always occupied a place of special importance in the mind of artists. During the Renaissance, when man was placed at the centre of the world by the Humanists, the representation of the human form was a major focus of artistic creation. Artists endeavoured to understand the way the body moved and functioned in order to give the protagonists in their works the most realistic and expressive character possible. The artistic treatises and academies which developed in Italy in the sixteenth century promoted the study of the human form from life, in other words, based on the observation of a live model, and this became a central workshop practice. Drawing each figure in isolation was one of the preliminary stages in the conception of a painting as much as it was an exercise for training the eye and the hand. Pentimenti, the doubling of lines, reworking and variations to all or part of a body, juxtaposed on the same support or repeated from one sheet to the other, were all signs of the draughtsman’s struggle to perfect the anatomy and to experiment with the expressive qualities of an attitude or a movement. Schizzo (i): dicono i Pittori quei leggerissimi tocchi di penna o matita, con i quali accennano i lor concetti senza dar perfezzione alle parti; il che dicono schizzare Sketch (es): the name given by painters to the very light strokes of a pen or pencil by means of which they express their ideas, without perfecting the details; they call this sketching Studio (i): termine de’ Pittori, e Scultori, col quale denominano tutti i disegni o modelli, cavati dal naturale, co’ quali si preparano a far le loro opere; poichè mediante questi, che essi chiamano studi, vengono a determinare, e perfezionare l’Idea di quella cosa, che vogliono, o con pennello, o con scarpello, rappresentare in pittura o scultura Study (ies): term used by painters and sculptors to describe the drawings or models taken from nature, with which they prepare to create their works; by means of what they name studies they are able to define and improve on the Idea of what they wish to represent, with paint brush or chisel, in painting or sculpture Filippo Baldinucci, Vocabolario Toscano dell’Arte del Disegno, Florence, 1681 1. Federico Barocci Urbino circa 1526/35 – 1612 Urbino Throughout his life, Federico Barocci followed a long and meticulous process to prepare his paintings, as described by the biographer of Italian artists Bellori. With some 1,500 to 2,000 sheets preserved, Barocci was one of the most prolific and inventive draughtsmen in the history of Italian (…) 2. Filippino Lippi Prato 1457 – 1504 Florence Filippino Lippi fixed these three young men in metalpoint, then applied white bodycolour to the first lines – although without following them precisely. The white highlights are not only there to indicate light, they also contribute to the construction of the drawing. The result is a kind of (…) 3. Mariotto Albertinelli Florence 1474 – 1515 Florence Formerly attributed to Fra Bartolommeo, this drawing is now given to Mariotto Albertinelli, his collaborator. This Florentine artist of the High Renaissance covered both sides of the sheet with figures – mainly children – in a variety of positions. Some of the postures are reminiscent of those (…) 4. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna The Crucifixion with Saints, painted by Guercino between 1624 and 1625 in the church of the Madonna della Ghiara in Reggio Emilia, was one of the most important commissions received by the Bolognese artist on his return from Rome. Our sheet is one of the many surviving preparatory drawings for (…) 5. Andrea del Sarto Florence 1486 – 1530 Florence Andrea del Sarto painted two Assumptions (Palazzo Pitti, Florence). The putto that supports the Virgin in both of them was prepared by Sarto first in our drawing, and then in that of the British Museum. Our sheet reads from left to right. In the first study on the left, the artist has paid no (…) 6. Federico Barocci Urbino circa 1526/35 – 1612 Urbino Federico Barocci never ceased to explore the diversity and eloquence of the human form. This double study is one of many testimonies to this. He first drew the upper kneeling figure, leafing through a book. The concise lines, the scribbled hatching and the accents in red chalk bear witness to (…) 7. Federico Barocci Urbino circa 1526/35 – 1612 Urbino This work belongs to the considerable group of 121 drawings by Barocci connected to one of his most important paintings, the Madonna del Popolo (1575-79, Uffizi, Florence). The woman represented on the left was also sketched twice on another, earlier sheet (Uffizi, Florence). Comparison of the (…) 8. Baccio Bandinelli Florence 1488/93 – 1560 Florence This drawing was executed by Baccio Bandinelli, a Florentine sculptor and goldsmith, follower of Michelangelo. Always attentive to the distribution of light and shade, he used red chalk with care, drawing clear contours and unfolding a tight network of fine, parallel hatchings. The features of (…) 9. Federico Zuccari Sant’Angelo in Vado circa 1540 – 1609 Ancona Unlike more formal official portraits, these two studies from life are strongly naturalistic. Having observed his model closely, Federico Zuccari drew Vincenzo Borghini’s features faithfully and with a firm hand: the high, balding forehead with its wrinkles, the throbbing vein on his temple, (…) 10. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna This double study is related to the Purification of the Virgin, a painting made by Guercino in 1654-55 for the Church of the Theatines in Ferrara. The artist first executed the more finished profile on the right, then repeated it using mostly lines in a second sketch on the left. He very subtly (…) 11. Anonymous Italian, end of the 16th century The iconography and the attribution of this remarkable drawing remain uncertain. Attributed to Francesco Salviati when it was acquired, it was also linked to the School of Fontainebleau: the elegant stance and the Mannerist style of the figure – probably an allegory of Charity – do in fact (…) 12. Francesco Salviati Florence 1510 – 1563 Rome This painstakingly executed drawing is a preparatory sketch for the figure of Salome in the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, a fresco painted by Francesco Salviati in the Capella del Pallio in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome (1541). The general posture of the figure is based on that of a Psyche (…) 13. Giuseppe Cesari, called il Cavalier d’Arpino Arpino 1568 – 1640 Rome Cavalier d’Arpino drew this female figure with all the energy and rhythm he was capable of. He devised this as a study for the Persian Sibyl painted in one of the pendentives in the vault of the Olgiati Chapel in the Church of Santa Prassede in Rome (circa 1593-95). Wrapped in her ample (…) 14. Ludovico Carracci Bologna 1555 – 1619 Bologna This drawing was probably accomplished by Ludovico Carracci in his early years in Bologna, when his graphic style was still easy to confuse with the style of his cousins Agostino and Annibale. Like them, he was in the habit of working from nature. In spite of the monk’s habit – undoubtedly (…) 15. Jacopo Chimenti, called Jacopo da Empoli Florence circa 1554 – 1640 Florence With broad, firm strokes, Jacopo da Empoli made this study for the figure of St Francis in his Assumption, painted in about 1590 (Convento dei Servi, Florence). The artist has lent the character a remarkable feeling of piety. As he kneels humbly, the saint’s hands are joined in prayer. This (…) 16. Francesco Curradi Florence 1570 – 1661 Florence This drawing belongs to a group of similar figure studies, preliminary sketches for the Last Judgment executed by Francesco Curradi in the Convento dei Servi di Maria in Montesenario. It is a preparatory drawing for one of the saints who surround Christ in the upper part of the composition. The (…) 17. Andrea del Sarto Florence 1486 – 1530 Florence This energetic drawing is a preparatory sketch for the child in the Barberini Holy Family (Galleria Nazionale, Rome). The very natural attitude of this figure, with his sulky expression and right hand resting on his mother’s breast, is identical to the painted version, as is the draping and the (…) 18. Bartolomeo Schedoni Modena 1578 – 1615 Parma This study has the spontaneity of a drawing from life. The doubling of the lines, the pentimenti and accents in black chalk are evidence of Schedoni’s desire to seize the pose of his model quickly and accurately. He then indicated the direction of the light, using hatching and stumping for the (…) 19. Carlo Maratti Camerano 1625 – 1713 Rome After laying out his composition in a pen and ink sketch, Carlo Maratti was in the habit of making a study of each individual figure, usually in red chalk. Our sheet is one of those studies: the Christ Child is almost identical to the one in the painting of the Apparition of the Virgin to St (…) 20. Carlo Maratti Camerano 1625 – 1713 Rome This large drawing is a preliminary study for the young St John the Baptist in the altarpiece of The Virgin and Child with St Charles Borromeo and St Ignatius, painted by Carlo Maratti for the Spada Chapel in Santa Maria in Vallicella, Rome. Maratti probably drew the model from life. The (…) 21. Jacopo dal Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano or Carlo Caliari Bassano circa 1510/15 – 1592 Bassano | Venice 1570 – 1596 Venice This drawing belongs to a group of studies of nude figures and portraits executed aux trois crayons on blue paper. The identification of the artist is still the subject of debate: art historians have not managed to choose between Jacopo Bassano and one of his pupils, Carlo Caliari, son of the (…) 22. Annibale Carracci Bologna 1560 – 1609 Rome This drawing is a fine example of the nude studies executed from life by Annibale Carracci which demonstrate his interest in the human form. Working as closely as possible to his model, Carracci deals with stark reality, observing the man’s anatomy with great attention and rendering it (…) 23. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna Formerly attributed to Annibale Carracci, this drawing demonstrates the latter’s influence on the young Guercino. Like the Bolognese master, who introduced the “return to nature” in art at the end of the sixteenth century, Guercino worked from nude models and opened an Accademia del nudo in (…) 24. Attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio Figino Milano 1548 – 1608 Milano Acquired as the work of an anonymous Italian artist, this sheet is related to examples of the graphic work of Giovanni Ambrogio Figino. This prolific Milanese draughtsman explored the human body, drawing from live models as well as from the great masters of the Renaissance (Michelangelo, (…) 25. Baldassare Franceschini, called Volterrano Volterra 1611 – 1689 Florence Without the double inscription in pen and ink, it would have been difficult to attribute this drawing, as this type of study of body parts, in particular the legs, was produced by so many Italian artists of the period. With a firmly drawn outline, worked over several times, Volterrano gives a (…) 26. Annibale Carracci Bologna 1560 – 1609 Rome The studies on this sheet are all linked to the allegory of the Vices in Hercules at the Crossroads, a major painting by Annibale Carracci for the ceiling of the Camerino in Palazzo Farnese in Rome (now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples). Based on the observation of a live model, Carracci (…) 27. Alvise Vivarini Venice 1442/53 – 1503/05 Venice This is one of the very few drawings that can be attributed with certainty to Alvise Vivarini. The hands are depicted in painstaking detail with a linear and delicate (if somewhat stiff) graphic language, very characteristic of this artist of the Venetian Renaissance. Grouped all together on (…) 28. Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael Urbino 1483 – 1520 Rome Raphael often paid great attention to hands in his drawings, aware of their capacity to embody the thoughts and actions of his characters. No connection has been made between these two studies of hands and any of his paintings. Either of these, one carrying a chalice the other a book, could (…) 29. Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael Urbino 1483 – 1520 Rome Raphael often paid great attention to hands in his drawings, aware of their capacity to embody the thoughts and actions of his characters. No connection has been made between these two studies of hands and any of his paintings. Either of these, one carrying a chalice the other a book, could (…) 30. Attributed to Lodovico Cardi, called Cigoli San Miniato 1559 – 1613 Rome The author of this drawing focused on the elegant simplicity of the hands which, protruding from full sleeves, are holding a cloak. The tapering fingers and the combination of the three colours of chalk on blue paper probably explain why the name of Cigoli has been suggested. In any case, the (…) 31. Attributed to Rosso Fiorentino Florence 1494 – 1541 Fontainebleau The morphology of this man’s body, emaciated and with hollow eyes, bears certain similarities to figures by Rosso Fiorentino, one of the first Mannerist artists in Florence. Nevertheless, the attribution of this sheet to Rosso is contested by some specialists. The emaciated appearance of the (…) 32. Jacopo Chimenti, called Jacopo da Empoli Florence circa 1554 – 1640 Florence This is a preparatory drawing for the figure of St Eligius in the Integrity of St Eligius (circa 1614, Uffizi, Florence). Legend has it that the goldsmith Eligius was accused of theft; he proved his innocence by making two silver thrones for King Clotaire for the price of one. In this study, the (…) 33. Guido Reni Galvenzano 1575 – 1642 Bologna Depictions of young serving maids carrying plates occur frequently in the works of Guido Reni. This is a preparatory study for the girl in The Birth of the Virgin, a fresco in the Capella dell’Annunziata in the Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome (1609-12). Reni has drawn the figure energetically, (…) 34. Aurelio Lomi Pisa 1556 – 1622 Pisa This is a preparatory drawing for the seated woman in the Visitation, painted by Aurelio Lomi in about 1615-16 for the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. The general attitude of the figure and her costume can be recognised even if certain elements are different, for example the (…) 35. Orazio Samacchini Bologna 1532 – 1577 Bologna This is a preparatory drawing for one of the angels accompanying the Virgin and Child in the Clouds with St Petronius and Mary Magdalen, painted by Samacchini for a church in Bologna (now in Saltram House, Plymouth, Devon). It demonstrates the artist’s tremendous eye for detail; he probably (…)
Home Online catalogues Studi & Schizzi I. Studying the Human Figure The human figure has always occupied a place of special importance in the mind of artists. During the Renaissance, when man was placed at the centre of the world by the Humanists, the representation of the human form was a major focus of artistic creation. Artists endeavoured to understand the way the body moved and functioned in order to give the protagonists in their works the most realistic and expressive character possible. The artistic treatises and academies which developed in Italy in the sixteenth century promoted the study of the human form from life, in other words, based on the observation of a live model, and this became a central workshop practice. Drawing each figure in isolation was one of the preliminary stages in the conception of a painting as much as it was an exercise for training the eye and the hand. Pentimenti, the doubling of lines, reworking and variations to all or part of a body, juxtaposed on the same support or repeated from one sheet to the other, were all signs of the draughtsman’s struggle to perfect the anatomy and to experiment with the expressive qualities of an attitude or a movement. Schizzo (i): dicono i Pittori quei leggerissimi tocchi di penna o matita, con i quali accennano i lor concetti senza dar perfezzione alle parti; il che dicono schizzare Sketch (es): the name given by painters to the very light strokes of a pen or pencil by means of which they express their ideas, without perfecting the details; they call this sketching Studio (i): termine de’ Pittori, e Scultori, col quale denominano tutti i disegni o modelli, cavati dal naturale, co’ quali si preparano a far le loro opere; poichè mediante questi, che essi chiamano studi, vengono a determinare, e perfezionare l’Idea di quella cosa, che vogliono, o con pennello, o con scarpello, rappresentare in pittura o scultura Study (ies): term used by painters and sculptors to describe the drawings or models taken from nature, with which they prepare to create their works; by means of what they name studies they are able to define and improve on the Idea of what they wish to represent, with paint brush or chisel, in painting or sculpture Filippo Baldinucci, Vocabolario Toscano dell’Arte del Disegno, Florence, 1681 1. Federico Barocci Urbino circa 1526/35 – 1612 Urbino Throughout his life, Federico Barocci followed a long and meticulous process to prepare his paintings, as described by the biographer of Italian artists Bellori. With some 1,500 to 2,000 sheets preserved, Barocci was one of the most prolific and inventive draughtsmen in the history of Italian (…) 2. Filippino Lippi Prato 1457 – 1504 Florence Filippino Lippi fixed these three young men in metalpoint, then applied white bodycolour to the first lines – although without following them precisely. The white highlights are not only there to indicate light, they also contribute to the construction of the drawing. The result is a kind of (…) 3. Mariotto Albertinelli Florence 1474 – 1515 Florence Formerly attributed to Fra Bartolommeo, this drawing is now given to Mariotto Albertinelli, his collaborator. This Florentine artist of the High Renaissance covered both sides of the sheet with figures – mainly children – in a variety of positions. Some of the postures are reminiscent of those (…) 4. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna The Crucifixion with Saints, painted by Guercino between 1624 and 1625 in the church of the Madonna della Ghiara in Reggio Emilia, was one of the most important commissions received by the Bolognese artist on his return from Rome. Our sheet is one of the many surviving preparatory drawings for (…) 5. Andrea del Sarto Florence 1486 – 1530 Florence Andrea del Sarto painted two Assumptions (Palazzo Pitti, Florence). The putto that supports the Virgin in both of them was prepared by Sarto first in our drawing, and then in that of the British Museum. Our sheet reads from left to right. In the first study on the left, the artist has paid no (…) 6. Federico Barocci Urbino circa 1526/35 – 1612 Urbino Federico Barocci never ceased to explore the diversity and eloquence of the human form. This double study is one of many testimonies to this. He first drew the upper kneeling figure, leafing through a book. The concise lines, the scribbled hatching and the accents in red chalk bear witness to (…) 7. Federico Barocci Urbino circa 1526/35 – 1612 Urbino This work belongs to the considerable group of 121 drawings by Barocci connected to one of his most important paintings, the Madonna del Popolo (1575-79, Uffizi, Florence). The woman represented on the left was also sketched twice on another, earlier sheet (Uffizi, Florence). Comparison of the (…) 8. Baccio Bandinelli Florence 1488/93 – 1560 Florence This drawing was executed by Baccio Bandinelli, a Florentine sculptor and goldsmith, follower of Michelangelo. Always attentive to the distribution of light and shade, he used red chalk with care, drawing clear contours and unfolding a tight network of fine, parallel hatchings. The features of (…) 9. Federico Zuccari Sant’Angelo in Vado circa 1540 – 1609 Ancona Unlike more formal official portraits, these two studies from life are strongly naturalistic. Having observed his model closely, Federico Zuccari drew Vincenzo Borghini’s features faithfully and with a firm hand: the high, balding forehead with its wrinkles, the throbbing vein on his temple, (…) 10. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna This double study is related to the Purification of the Virgin, a painting made by Guercino in 1654-55 for the Church of the Theatines in Ferrara. The artist first executed the more finished profile on the right, then repeated it using mostly lines in a second sketch on the left. He very subtly (…) 11. Anonymous Italian, end of the 16th century The iconography and the attribution of this remarkable drawing remain uncertain. Attributed to Francesco Salviati when it was acquired, it was also linked to the School of Fontainebleau: the elegant stance and the Mannerist style of the figure – probably an allegory of Charity – do in fact (…) 12. Francesco Salviati Florence 1510 – 1563 Rome This painstakingly executed drawing is a preparatory sketch for the figure of Salome in the Beheading of Saint John the Baptist, a fresco painted by Francesco Salviati in the Capella del Pallio in the Palazzo Farnese, Rome (1541). The general posture of the figure is based on that of a Psyche (…) 13. Giuseppe Cesari, called il Cavalier d’Arpino Arpino 1568 – 1640 Rome Cavalier d’Arpino drew this female figure with all the energy and rhythm he was capable of. He devised this as a study for the Persian Sibyl painted in one of the pendentives in the vault of the Olgiati Chapel in the Church of Santa Prassede in Rome (circa 1593-95). Wrapped in her ample (…) 14. Ludovico Carracci Bologna 1555 – 1619 Bologna This drawing was probably accomplished by Ludovico Carracci in his early years in Bologna, when his graphic style was still easy to confuse with the style of his cousins Agostino and Annibale. Like them, he was in the habit of working from nature. In spite of the monk’s habit – undoubtedly (…) 15. Jacopo Chimenti, called Jacopo da Empoli Florence circa 1554 – 1640 Florence With broad, firm strokes, Jacopo da Empoli made this study for the figure of St Francis in his Assumption, painted in about 1590 (Convento dei Servi, Florence). The artist has lent the character a remarkable feeling of piety. As he kneels humbly, the saint’s hands are joined in prayer. This (…) 16. Francesco Curradi Florence 1570 – 1661 Florence This drawing belongs to a group of similar figure studies, preliminary sketches for the Last Judgment executed by Francesco Curradi in the Convento dei Servi di Maria in Montesenario. It is a preparatory drawing for one of the saints who surround Christ in the upper part of the composition. The (…) 17. Andrea del Sarto Florence 1486 – 1530 Florence This energetic drawing is a preparatory sketch for the child in the Barberini Holy Family (Galleria Nazionale, Rome). The very natural attitude of this figure, with his sulky expression and right hand resting on his mother’s breast, is identical to the painted version, as is the draping and the (…) 18. Bartolomeo Schedoni Modena 1578 – 1615 Parma This study has the spontaneity of a drawing from life. The doubling of the lines, the pentimenti and accents in black chalk are evidence of Schedoni’s desire to seize the pose of his model quickly and accurately. He then indicated the direction of the light, using hatching and stumping for the (…) 19. Carlo Maratti Camerano 1625 – 1713 Rome After laying out his composition in a pen and ink sketch, Carlo Maratti was in the habit of making a study of each individual figure, usually in red chalk. Our sheet is one of those studies: the Christ Child is almost identical to the one in the painting of the Apparition of the Virgin to St (…) 20. Carlo Maratti Camerano 1625 – 1713 Rome This large drawing is a preliminary study for the young St John the Baptist in the altarpiece of The Virgin and Child with St Charles Borromeo and St Ignatius, painted by Carlo Maratti for the Spada Chapel in Santa Maria in Vallicella, Rome. Maratti probably drew the model from life. The (…) 21. Jacopo dal Ponte, called Jacopo Bassano or Carlo Caliari Bassano circa 1510/15 – 1592 Bassano | Venice 1570 – 1596 Venice This drawing belongs to a group of studies of nude figures and portraits executed aux trois crayons on blue paper. The identification of the artist is still the subject of debate: art historians have not managed to choose between Jacopo Bassano and one of his pupils, Carlo Caliari, son of the (…) 22. Annibale Carracci Bologna 1560 – 1609 Rome This drawing is a fine example of the nude studies executed from life by Annibale Carracci which demonstrate his interest in the human form. Working as closely as possible to his model, Carracci deals with stark reality, observing the man’s anatomy with great attention and rendering it (…) 23. Giovanni Francesco Barbieri, called Guercino Cento 1591 – 1666 Bologna Formerly attributed to Annibale Carracci, this drawing demonstrates the latter’s influence on the young Guercino. Like the Bolognese master, who introduced the “return to nature” in art at the end of the sixteenth century, Guercino worked from nude models and opened an Accademia del nudo in (…) 24. Attributed to Giovanni Ambrogio Figino Milano 1548 – 1608 Milano Acquired as the work of an anonymous Italian artist, this sheet is related to examples of the graphic work of Giovanni Ambrogio Figino. This prolific Milanese draughtsman explored the human body, drawing from live models as well as from the great masters of the Renaissance (Michelangelo, (…) 25. Baldassare Franceschini, called Volterrano Volterra 1611 – 1689 Florence Without the double inscription in pen and ink, it would have been difficult to attribute this drawing, as this type of study of body parts, in particular the legs, was produced by so many Italian artists of the period. With a firmly drawn outline, worked over several times, Volterrano gives a (…) 26. Annibale Carracci Bologna 1560 – 1609 Rome The studies on this sheet are all linked to the allegory of the Vices in Hercules at the Crossroads, a major painting by Annibale Carracci for the ceiling of the Camerino in Palazzo Farnese in Rome (now in the Museo di Capodimonte, Naples). Based on the observation of a live model, Carracci (…) 27. Alvise Vivarini Venice 1442/53 – 1503/05 Venice This is one of the very few drawings that can be attributed with certainty to Alvise Vivarini. The hands are depicted in painstaking detail with a linear and delicate (if somewhat stiff) graphic language, very characteristic of this artist of the Venetian Renaissance. Grouped all together on (…) 28. Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael Urbino 1483 – 1520 Rome Raphael often paid great attention to hands in his drawings, aware of their capacity to embody the thoughts and actions of his characters. No connection has been made between these two studies of hands and any of his paintings. Either of these, one carrying a chalice the other a book, could (…) 29. Raffaello Sanzio, called Raphael Urbino 1483 – 1520 Rome Raphael often paid great attention to hands in his drawings, aware of their capacity to embody the thoughts and actions of his characters. No connection has been made between these two studies of hands and any of his paintings. Either of these, one carrying a chalice the other a book, could (…) 30. Attributed to Lodovico Cardi, called Cigoli San Miniato 1559 – 1613 Rome The author of this drawing focused on the elegant simplicity of the hands which, protruding from full sleeves, are holding a cloak. The tapering fingers and the combination of the three colours of chalk on blue paper probably explain why the name of Cigoli has been suggested. In any case, the (…) 31. Attributed to Rosso Fiorentino Florence 1494 – 1541 Fontainebleau The morphology of this man’s body, emaciated and with hollow eyes, bears certain similarities to figures by Rosso Fiorentino, one of the first Mannerist artists in Florence. Nevertheless, the attribution of this sheet to Rosso is contested by some specialists. The emaciated appearance of the (…) 32. Jacopo Chimenti, called Jacopo da Empoli Florence circa 1554 – 1640 Florence This is a preparatory drawing for the figure of St Eligius in the Integrity of St Eligius (circa 1614, Uffizi, Florence). Legend has it that the goldsmith Eligius was accused of theft; he proved his innocence by making two silver thrones for King Clotaire for the price of one. In this study, the (…) 33. Guido Reni Galvenzano 1575 – 1642 Bologna Depictions of young serving maids carrying plates occur frequently in the works of Guido Reni. This is a preparatory study for the girl in The Birth of the Virgin, a fresco in the Capella dell’Annunziata in the Palazzo del Quirinale in Rome (1609-12). Reni has drawn the figure energetically, (…) 34. Aurelio Lomi Pisa 1556 – 1622 Pisa This is a preparatory drawing for the seated woman in the Visitation, painted by Aurelio Lomi in about 1615-16 for the church of Santa Maria del Carmine in Florence. The general attitude of the figure and her costume can be recognised even if certain elements are different, for example the (…) 35. Orazio Samacchini Bologna 1532 – 1577 Bologna This is a preparatory drawing for one of the angels accompanying the Virgin and Child in the Clouds with St Petronius and Mary Magdalen, painted by Samacchini for a church in Bologna (now in Saltram House, Plymouth, Devon). It demonstrates the artist’s tremendous eye for detail; he probably (…)