.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This drawing can be dated to circa 1485, when Lorenzo di Credi was in charge of executing pictures in the workshop of the sculptor Andrea del Verrocchio. Credi trained with Verrocchio along with Leonardo da Vinci. When the latter left the studio in 1478, Credi rose to become the sculptor's principal painting assistant, eventually assuming chief responsibility for the pictures commissioned from the master and for the entire studio when Verrocchio left for Venice. Credi's earliest picture is the Madonna di Piazzia in Pistoia's Duomo, painted at the same period as the present drawing and based on a design by Verrocchio, A. Butterfield, The Sculptures of Andrea del Verrocchio, New Haven and London, 1997, illustrated in reverse, fig. 259.
Giorgio Vasari in his Life of Lorenzo di Credi, first published in 1550, explains how Credi positioned himself in relation to Verrocchio and Leonardo: 'Growing in courage, then, Lorenzo attached himself to Andrea Verrocchio, who at that time had taken it into his head to devote himself to painting; and under him, having Pietro Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci as his companions and friends and although they were rivals, he set himself with all diligence to learn to paint', G. Vasari, Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, London, 1996, p. 800.
Vasari goes on to describe Credi's drapery studies and Leonardo's influence on him: 'And since Lorenzo took an extraordinary pleasure in the manner of Leonardo, he contrived to imitate it so well that there was no one who came nearer to it then he did in the high finish and thorough perfection of his works, as may be seen from many drawings that are in our book [i.e. Vasari's, Libro dei Disegni], executed with the style, with the pen, or in watercolour, among which are some drawings made from models of clay covered with waxed linen cloth and with liquid clay, imitated with such diligence, and finished with such patience, as it is scarcely possible to conceive, much less to equal', G. Vasari, op. cit., p. 800.
This drawing was drawn with metalpoint on cream prepared paper. Over these lines Credi added wash applied with the point of a thin brush in short parallel strokes. Some of the folds he then highlighted with white heightening. The figure of the Madonna and part of the Child, only sketched out, is barely visible but becomes apparent when examined with ultra-violet light (fig. 1).
Vasari mentioned that he owned some of these drapery studies. Only very few of these are now extant. Two drawings in the same technique, on pink prepared paper, smaller than the present sheet, are in the Fondation Custodia, Paris (F. Viatte et al., Leonardo da Vinci, exhib. cat., Muse du Louvre, Paris, 1989, no. 21) and in the Uffizi, A. Petrioli Tofani, Inventario, 1. Disegni esposti, Florence, 1986, no. 507E. A larger and more developed drawing of an Allegory of Astronomy is also in the Uffizi, A. Petrioli Tofani, op. cit., no. 493E. Another drapery study in pen and ink is in the Uffizi, A. Petrioli Tofani, op. cit., no. 506E. Everett Fahy, who confirmed Christie's attribution of the present drawing in a letter dated 13 October 1998, added to that list another drapery study in distemper on linen in the Uffizi, A. Petrioli Tofani, op. cit., no. 422E, as 'Tommaso'. A further drapery study, in tempera, red chalk and bodycolor, datable 1490-5, is in the Louvre, F. Viatte, op. cit., no. 23.
The only drapery study that can be securely associated with Vasari's collection, and at the same time to an early picture, is the Louvre study of Saint John for the Pistoia altarpiece, F. Viatte, op. cit., no. 22. The Louvre drawing, of the same period as the present one, is drawn with the same technique, thin brush strokes.
The technique of executing independent drapery studies was developed by Andrea Verrocchio and perfected by his pupils Credi, Leonardo, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino. The majority of the drawings in that group do not appear to have been made with particular pictures in mind, but because of the universality of their subjects - seated, kneeling and standing figures - which could be used on numerous occasions. These drawings were usually based on small dummies, or 'lay-models', as explained by Filarte in his Trattato di Architettura written about 1464: 'The draperies also concern studies after nature...Try to have a small figure in wood, whose arms, legs and neck are articulated; then prepare a garment made of linen and when it is convenient, as if it was an alive person, dress the lay-model by giving it the attitude you wish to give him and arrange it as it should be; and if the draperies are not placed according to your wish take melted glue and spray entirely your figure. Then you can arrange the folds as you please and let it dry: they will remain rigid. If you want to transform it, plunge the lay-model in hot water; like this you could change its shape', quoted in F. Viatte, op. cit., p. 39. Mud or clay was sometimes substituted for glue.
Giorgio Vasari in his Life of Lorenzo di Credi, first published in 1550, explains how Credi positioned himself in relation to Verrocchio and Leonardo: 'Growing in courage, then, Lorenzo attached himself to Andrea Verrocchio, who at that time had taken it into his head to devote himself to painting; and under him, having Pietro Perugino and Leonardo da Vinci as his companions and friends and although they were rivals, he set himself with all diligence to learn to paint', G. Vasari, Lives of the Painters, Sculptors and Architects, London, 1996, p. 800.
Vasari goes on to describe Credi's drapery studies and Leonardo's influence on him: 'And since Lorenzo took an extraordinary pleasure in the manner of Leonardo, he contrived to imitate it so well that there was no one who came nearer to it then he did in the high finish and thorough perfection of his works, as may be seen from many drawings that are in our book [i.e. Vasari's, Libro dei Disegni], executed with the style, with the pen, or in watercolour, among which are some drawings made from models of clay covered with waxed linen cloth and with liquid clay, imitated with such diligence, and finished with such patience, as it is scarcely possible to conceive, much less to equal', G. Vasari, op. cit., p. 800.
This drawing was drawn with metalpoint on cream prepared paper. Over these lines Credi added wash applied with the point of a thin brush in short parallel strokes. Some of the folds he then highlighted with white heightening. The figure of the Madonna and part of the Child, only sketched out, is barely visible but becomes apparent when examined with ultra-violet light (fig. 1).
Vasari mentioned that he owned some of these drapery studies. Only very few of these are now extant. Two drawings in the same technique, on pink prepared paper, smaller than the present sheet, are in the Fondation Custodia, Paris (F. Viatte et al., Leonardo da Vinci, exhib. cat., Muse du Louvre, Paris, 1989, no. 21) and in the Uffizi, A. Petrioli Tofani, Inventario, 1. Disegni esposti, Florence, 1986, no. 507E. A larger and more developed drawing of an Allegory of Astronomy is also in the Uffizi, A. Petrioli Tofani, op. cit., no. 493E. Another drapery study in pen and ink is in the Uffizi, A. Petrioli Tofani, op. cit., no. 506E. Everett Fahy, who confirmed Christie's attribution of the present drawing in a letter dated 13 October 1998, added to that list another drapery study in distemper on linen in the Uffizi, A. Petrioli Tofani, op. cit., no. 422E, as 'Tommaso'. A further drapery study, in tempera, red chalk and bodycolor, datable 1490-5, is in the Louvre, F. Viatte, op. cit., no. 23.
The only drapery study that can be securely associated with Vasari's collection, and at the same time to an early picture, is the Louvre study of Saint John for the Pistoia altarpiece, F. Viatte, op. cit., no. 22. The Louvre drawing, of the same period as the present one, is drawn with the same technique, thin brush strokes.
The technique of executing independent drapery studies was developed by Andrea Verrocchio and perfected by his pupils Credi, Leonardo, Botticelli, Ghirlandaio and Perugino. The majority of the drawings in that group do not appear to have been made with particular pictures in mind, but because of the universality of their subjects - seated, kneeling and standing figures - which could be used on numerous occasions. These drawings were usually based on small dummies, or 'lay-models', as explained by Filarte in his Trattato di Architettura written about 1464: 'The draperies also concern studies after nature...Try to have a small figure in wood, whose arms, legs and neck are articulated; then prepare a garment made of linen and when it is convenient, as if it was an alive person, dress the lay-model by giving it the attitude you wish to give him and arrange it as it should be; and if the draperies are not placed according to your wish take melted glue and spray entirely your figure. Then you can arrange the folds as you please and let it dry: they will remain rigid. If you want to transform it, plunge the lay-model in hot water; like this you could change its shape', quoted in F. Viatte, op. cit., p. 39. Mud or clay was sometimes substituted for glue.