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Lot Essay
A sculptor and architect, Raffaello collaborated on several important projects throughout his career, including the tomb of Julius II in San Pietro in Vincoli, Rome; his most famous work may be the statue of Saint Michael that graced the Castel Sant’Angelo after the Sack of Rome until the eighteenth century. His architectural interest resulted in several sketchbooks, of which the most complete is the so-called Libro di schizzo di Michelangelo of nearly a hundred pages at the Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille. After the early rejection of the attribution to Michelangelo, the name of Battista (Aristotile) da Sangallo has been suggested, before modern scholarship rendered it mainly to Raffaello with a smaller number of sheets still credited to Aristotile. The sketchbook and related material is extensively discussed by Frédérique Lemerle (in Brejon de Lavergnée, op. cit., pp. 283-322).
The identical style and handwriting on many of the Bloxam sheets make clear that they, too, must be attributed to Raffaello, and can also be dated to the 1530s. Like the Lille sketchbook, the taccuino to which those from the Bloxam collection must have belonged are a compilation of sketches based on drawings by architects and artists from the illustrious circles in which Raffaello was active – those of Bramante, Raphael, the Sangallo, and Michelangelo. As noted by Lemerle, the importance of such compilations resides in ‘the precision of the plans’ and in their recording of ‘projects that would otherwise not, or only partially, be known’ (ibid., p. 286). Thus, both the Lille and Bloxam collections contain a record of a drawing by Michelangelo for the façade of San Lorenzo, Florence (drawing i in the present lot). The existence of more than one sketchbook by Raffaello with similar or identical material indicates that they circulated among and were meant to be studied and copied by his friends and colleagues (ibid., p. 287). Although only preserved as a fragment, the Bloxam group is an important witness to the early study and dissemination of important examples of Renaissance architecture.
The identical style and handwriting on many of the Bloxam sheets make clear that they, too, must be attributed to Raffaello, and can also be dated to the 1530s. Like the Lille sketchbook, the taccuino to which those from the Bloxam collection must have belonged are a compilation of sketches based on drawings by architects and artists from the illustrious circles in which Raffaello was active – those of Bramante, Raphael, the Sangallo, and Michelangelo. As noted by Lemerle, the importance of such compilations resides in ‘the precision of the plans’ and in their recording of ‘projects that would otherwise not, or only partially, be known’ (ibid., p. 286). Thus, both the Lille and Bloxam collections contain a record of a drawing by Michelangelo for the façade of San Lorenzo, Florence (drawing i in the present lot). The existence of more than one sketchbook by Raffaello with similar or identical material indicates that they circulated among and were meant to be studied and copied by his friends and colleagues (ibid., p. 287). Although only preserved as a fragment, the Bloxam group is an important witness to the early study and dissemination of important examples of Renaissance architecture.