Baccio Bandinelli (1593-1560)

Hercules turned to the left, leaning on a club, holding drapery, by the ruins of a temple

Details

Baccio Bandinelli (1593-1560)
Bandinelli, B.
Hercules turned to the left, leaning on a club, holding drapery, by the ruins of a temple
with inscriptions 'del Paserotti' and 'di Baccio' (verso)
pen and brown ink over stylus indications (some ink gall damage), watermark crowned shield
16.7/8 x 11.3/8 in. (428 x 288 mm.)

Provenance

G. Vallardi (L. 1223, twice), his attributions 'Agost.[ino] Car[racci]' (recto) in red chalk and associated shelfmark 'N191' (verso).
Anon. sale, Sotheby's London, 25 March 1982, lot 22 (as Vincenzo de'Rossi).
with Yvonne Tan Bunzl.

Exhibited

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, Baccio Bandinelli, 1988, no. 42, illustrated (as Baccio Bandinelli).

Lot Essay

Dr. Roger Ward, in the Bandinelli exhibition of 1988, compared the drawing with two in the Louvre, adding that 'no doubt remains about the attribution of this Hercules to Baccio Bandinelli himself', op. cit., p. 74. The two drawings in the Louvre also represent Hercules standing in an architectural setting and show the same refined pen technique of hatching, R. Ward, op. cit., figs. 30-1. One of them bears an early attribution to Bandinelli and was engraved as such in 1548. The three drawings and another, now lost but known through an engraving (R. Ward, op. cit., fig. 32), were probably part of a series of Labours of Hercules, perhaps intended to be engraved or as finished works of art: Bandinelli's draughtsmanship was much appreciated in his lifetime. Vasari, who disliked Bandinelli, praised his drawings highly, adding that he was a bad sculptor.
Dr. Ward dated the present drawing to circa 1548 by comparison to two drawings of the Old Testament connected with works datable 1547-8, op. cit., nos. 39-41.