Lot Essay
The central figure blowing a trumpet is a study for the figure in the center of the Last Judgement now in the Pinacoteca, Ferrara, P. Pouncey, Disegni del Bastianino, Arte Illustrata, 1972, V, no. 48, fig. 2, reprinted in Philip Pouncey Raccolta di Scritti, Rimini, 1994, pp. 139-45. The two angels holding trumpets on both sides of the drawing are studies for an angel on the right of the same altarpiece.
The picture was painted for the church of San Cristoforo in the Carthusian Monastery in Ferrara between 1556 and 1568, F. Arcangeli, Il Bastianino, Milan, 1963, pp. 32 and 71.
Another drawing for this altarpiece, recognized by Philip Pouncey, is at Christ Church, Oxford, P. Pouncey, op. cit., fig. 1. Of the other two known drawings by Bastianino, one is in the Museum of Fine Art Budapest and the other in the Brera, Milan, Pouncey, op. cit., figs. 3-4. The latter is the closest in technique to the present drawing, showing the same vigorous use of chalk, with areas of stumping and strong accents for the outlines.
Bastianino's style is greatly influenced by that of Michelangelo, whose work he had studied when he travelled to Rome at the age of eighteen. Unfortunately the Roman climate did not suit Bastianino and he returned to Ferrara after only a year. His Last Judgement in Ferrara is clearly inspired by that of Michelangelo. The type of the central figure on this drawing is close to that of the man digging the hole for Saint Peter's cross in Michelangelo's fresco in the Capella Paolina, Vatican.
The picture was painted for the church of San Cristoforo in the Carthusian Monastery in Ferrara between 1556 and 1568, F. Arcangeli, Il Bastianino, Milan, 1963, pp. 32 and 71.
Another drawing for this altarpiece, recognized by Philip Pouncey, is at Christ Church, Oxford, P. Pouncey, op. cit., fig. 1. Of the other two known drawings by Bastianino, one is in the Museum of Fine Art Budapest and the other in the Brera, Milan, Pouncey, op. cit., figs. 3-4. The latter is the closest in technique to the present drawing, showing the same vigorous use of chalk, with areas of stumping and strong accents for the outlines.
Bastianino's style is greatly influenced by that of Michelangelo, whose work he had studied when he travelled to Rome at the age of eighteen. Unfortunately the Roman climate did not suit Bastianino and he returned to Ferrara after only a year. His Last Judgement in Ferrara is clearly inspired by that of Michelangelo. The type of the central figure on this drawing is close to that of the man digging the hole for Saint Peter's cross in Michelangelo's fresco in the Capella Paolina, Vatican.