拍品专文
The present drawing is related to a picture of Saint Barnabas preaching commissioned in 1652 by Cardinal Omodei for the chapel of Saint Barnabas (fig. 1) in the Milanese Church in Rome, San Carlo al Corso (R. Cocke, Pier Francesco Mola, Oxford, 1972, pl. 55) as was kindly pointed out by Richard Cocke and Nicholas Turner. Richard Cocke also notes that the technique of this drawing is unusual for Mola.
The composition of the drawing and the altarpiece are very close: the bishop saint is on the right, before columns, and the figures on the left. The main difference is that Saint Barnabas's right hand in this sheet is pointing downwards towards the kneeling figure whereas in the picture the Saint points upward. The present drawing is probably the first of the stury for the picture, as observed by Richard Cocke. In two other drawings related to the picture, one in the National Museum in Stockholm and the other in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (N. Turner in Pier Francesco Mola 1612-1666, exhib. cat., Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Lugano and elsewhere, 1989, nos. III.12 and III.15 illustrated), the kneeling figure is still present, though the hand of the Saint is pointing upwards. A drawing from the Skippe collection, now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (N. Turner in op. cit., no. 111.14, illustrated) and another sold at Christie's, New York, 12 January 1988, lot 30, show the composition at an advanced stage, without the kneeling figure. Laura Laurenti proposed (op. cit., p. 173 under I.20) that Mola changed his mind while painting and substituted a preaching for a baptism scene.
Saint Barnabas was one of the early disciples of Christ, and went to preach with Saint Paul in Cyprus. They quarrelled later at the Jerusalem council and Barnabas returned to Cyprus. Saint Barnabas is the patron saint of Milan and was supposedly its first bishop.
The composition of the drawing and the altarpiece are very close: the bishop saint is on the right, before columns, and the figures on the left. The main difference is that Saint Barnabas's right hand in this sheet is pointing downwards towards the kneeling figure whereas in the picture the Saint points upward. The present drawing is probably the first of the stury for the picture, as observed by Richard Cocke. In two other drawings related to the picture, one in the National Museum in Stockholm and the other in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin (N. Turner in Pier Francesco Mola 1612-1666, exhib. cat., Museo Cantonale d'Arte, Lugano and elsewhere, 1989, nos. III.12 and III.15 illustrated), the kneeling figure is still present, though the hand of the Saint is pointing upwards. A drawing from the Skippe collection, now in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (N. Turner in op. cit., no. 111.14, illustrated) and another sold at Christie's, New York, 12 January 1988, lot 30, show the composition at an advanced stage, without the kneeling figure. Laura Laurenti proposed (op. cit., p. 173 under I.20) that Mola changed his mind while painting and substituted a preaching for a baptism scene.
Saint Barnabas was one of the early disciples of Christ, and went to preach with Saint Paul in Cyprus. They quarrelled later at the Jerusalem council and Barnabas returned to Cyprus. Saint Barnabas is the patron saint of Milan and was supposedly its first bishop.