|
BALDASSARE FRANCESCHINI
called IL VOLTERRANO
Volterra 1611 ~ 1689 Florence
These male nudes are part of the long Florentine tradition of drawing from the model. Il Volterrano's particular passion for this practice stemmed from
his year in the studio of the Florentine artist, Matteo Rosselli (1628).1
Many of Volterrano's male nude studies were directly connected with the pose of a male figure in his frescoes, illustrating exploits from the history of the Medici,
for the courtyard, Villa Petraia near Florence.2 Although neither our recto nor verso can be connected with any specific figure in this important fresco cycle, they are probably of this date (1637 – 1646).3 By the time of the Petraia commission, Volterrano's drawing style had reached early maturity. For this commission he made sketches of every single detail including hands (our verso). Most of his study drawings at this date were done in red chalk and even the male nudes had a liveliness which distinguished them from mere academies.
1. Charles McCorquodale, Catalogue of An Important Group of Drawings by Baldassare Franceschini, called Il Volterrano, Sotheby's Sale Catalogue,
London, 3rd July, 1980, Introduction.
2. Cf. Stiftung Ratjen, Italienische Zeichnungen des 16.-18. Jahrhunderts, exh. cat. Munich, 1977,
pp. 116 -117 illus. and Cristina Acidini
Luchinat & Giorgio Galletti, Le Ville e I Giardini di Castello e Petraia a Firenze, Florence, 1992.
3. Anna Maria Petrioli Tofani, 'Disegni del Volterrano per gli affreschi nella Villa della Petraia' La Quadreria di Don Lorenzo de' Medici, exh. cat. Villa
Medicea di Poggio a Caiano, Florence, 1977, p. 80, figs. 6, 7, 8 & Catherine Monbeig Goguel, Dessins baroques florentins du museé du Louvre, exh. cat , Paris, 1981, p. 168 & fig. 101.
4. Charles McCorquodale, Op.cit.
|
|
