Lot Essay
The two heads are alternative studies for the head of Constantine in the Baptism of Constantine, in the transept of San Giovanni in Laterano, Rome (fig. 1), I. Chiappini di Sorio, Cristofano Roncalli detto il Pomarancio in I Pittori Bergamaschi, Bergamo, 1975, no. 111/35, illustrated p. 161.
Upon his election as Pope in 1592, Clement VIII decided to restore the transept of San Giovanni in Laterano and asked Giacomo della Porta to draw up a project. Five years later Clement VIII commissioned frescoes of the life of Constantine for the nave. The decorations were to be ready for the Jubilee year of 1600. Eight artists worked under the direction of the Cavaliere d'Arpino. Roncalli executed two frescoes, the Baptism of Constantine and a smaller one of Saint Simon. Payments to Roncalli for this commission were made from September 1598 to 4 April of the following year.
An early idea for Constantine kneeling is in the Uffizi with a large series of studies for the head, W. Chandler Kirwin, Disegni dei Toscani a Roma (1580-1620), exhib. cat., Gabinetto disegni e stampe degli Uffizi, Florence, 1979, no. 15, fig. 17. W. Chandler Kirwin proposed that a drawing in the Uffizi, after an antique head, had served as a basis for Constantine's head, Chandler Kirwin, op. cit., no. 13, fig. 14. Jennifer Montagu suggested that the drawing was inspired by the head of the Apollo Belvedere.
Upon his election as Pope in 1592, Clement VIII decided to restore the transept of San Giovanni in Laterano and asked Giacomo della Porta to draw up a project. Five years later Clement VIII commissioned frescoes of the life of Constantine for the nave. The decorations were to be ready for the Jubilee year of 1600. Eight artists worked under the direction of the Cavaliere d'Arpino. Roncalli executed two frescoes, the Baptism of Constantine and a smaller one of Saint Simon. Payments to Roncalli for this commission were made from September 1598 to 4 April of the following year.
An early idea for Constantine kneeling is in the Uffizi with a large series of studies for the head, W. Chandler Kirwin, Disegni dei Toscani a Roma (1580-1620), exhib. cat., Gabinetto disegni e stampe degli Uffizi, Florence, 1979, no. 15, fig. 17. W. Chandler Kirwin proposed that a drawing in the Uffizi, after an antique head, had served as a basis for Constantine's head, Chandler Kirwin, op. cit., no. 13, fig. 14. Jennifer Montagu suggested that the drawing was inspired by the head of the Apollo Belvedere.