Lot Essay
This is an early drawing for one of Maratta's most celebrated altarpieces, commissioned in 1686 by Cardinal Alderano Cybo for his chapel in Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome (fig. 1), B. Contardi and S. Romano in Filippo Titi, studio di pittura Scoltura, et architettura, nelle chiese di Roma, Firenze, 1987, fig. 1439.
The very large number of preparatory drawings Maratta executed for that composition reflects its importance. Although Maratta was by that time one of the most celebrated painters in Rome, the commission was a daunting challenge, since the altarpiece was to face the Chigi Chapel decorated by Raphael. No less than seven compositional drawings and many single figure studies are known. Of these, probably the earliests are the rectangular shaped compositions: the present one and the one in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid, M.B. Mena Marques, Dibujos italianos de los siglos XVII y XVIII en la Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, 1984, no. 82, illustrated. Another group shows the composition in its definitive arched shape, although with differing arrangements of figures: a red chalk composition at Chatsworth (M. Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings, Roman and Neapolitan Schools, London, 1994, no. 260, illustrated), and others in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, The Seventeeth Century in Italy, 1967, no. 117, illustrated) and at Windsor Castle, A. Blunt and H.L. Cocke, The Roman Drawings of the XVII & XVIII Centuries in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor, London, 1960, no. 286, pl. 53. Drawings in the last group are very close in composition of the picture: a pen and ink drawing in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York (New York, loc. cit., no. 116, illustrated) and another in the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf, E. Schaar, Die Handzeichnungen von Andrea Sacchi und Carlo Maratta, Düsseldorf, 1967, no. 342, pl. 85.
The subject of the picture is Saint John and the Fathers of the Latin Church disputing the subject of the Immaculate Conception, though in the present drawing, which is one of the earliest of the series, the Virgin is represented without the moon crescent, symbol of the Virgin's chastity. The only figure which is almost unchanged throughout the preliminary drawings is that of the seated Saint Gregory placed, which was alternatively on the left and right of the compositions.
The very large number of preparatory drawings Maratta executed for that composition reflects its importance. Although Maratta was by that time one of the most celebrated painters in Rome, the commission was a daunting challenge, since the altarpiece was to face the Chigi Chapel decorated by Raphael. No less than seven compositional drawings and many single figure studies are known. Of these, probably the earliests are the rectangular shaped compositions: the present one and the one in the Biblioteca Nacional in Madrid, M.B. Mena Marques, Dibujos italianos de los siglos XVII y XVIII en la Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, 1984, no. 82, illustrated. Another group shows the composition in its definitive arched shape, although with differing arrangements of figures: a red chalk composition at Chatsworth (M. Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings, Roman and Neapolitan Schools, London, 1994, no. 260, illustrated), and others in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (The Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, The Seventeeth Century in Italy, 1967, no. 117, illustrated) and at Windsor Castle, A. Blunt and H.L. Cocke, The Roman Drawings of the XVII & XVIII Centuries in the Collection of Her Majesty the Queen at Windsor, London, 1960, no. 286, pl. 53. Drawings in the last group are very close in composition of the picture: a pen and ink drawing in the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York (New York, loc. cit., no. 116, illustrated) and another in the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf, E. Schaar, Die Handzeichnungen von Andrea Sacchi und Carlo Maratta, Düsseldorf, 1967, no. 342, pl. 85.
The subject of the picture is Saint John and the Fathers of the Latin Church disputing the subject of the Immaculate Conception, though in the present drawing, which is one of the earliest of the series, the Virgin is represented without the moon crescent, symbol of the Virgin's chastity. The only figure which is almost unchanged throughout the preliminary drawings is that of the seated Saint Gregory placed, which was alternatively on the left and right of the compositions.