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拍品專文
The recto of this drawing is a study for the lower part of the picture of Saint Gregory the Great surrounded by other Saints painted for the high altar of the Chiesa Nuova, Rome, and now in the Grenoble Museum, H. Vlieghe, op. cit., no. 109. The picture was commissioned in August 1606 by the Oratorians when it was decided that the miraculous image of the Madonna di Vallicella was to be transferred to the high altar of the church. Rubens signed the contract on 25 September 1606 and the price of 450 scudi was agreed, 50 of which were to be donated to the Congregation. The first terms of the contract stipulated that Rubens was first to show some of his earlier works and eventually to submit a modello. The terms were later changed: the picture could not be rejected once displayed and the fee was to be paid before the picture would be exhibited, provided it was approved by two noblemen or cardinals. That commission was very prestigious: the Chiesa Nuova was then one of the most popular churches in Rome and many of the best painters of the period had already painted a picture for the church.
The picture was probably finished by April 1607, but could not be hung before mid-September, as the miraculous picture could not be transferred before then. The picture was eventually placed on the altar, but it was quickly taken down because of the bad lighting: the different figures could hardly be distinguished. The Oratorians were nonetheless happy with the picture and commissioned Rubens to paint another one on a non-reflective material such as schist.
Rubens eventually chose a very different scheme which was composed of three pictures: one in the center enclosing the miraculous image and one of saints on each side. Afterwards Rubens tried to sell the rejected altarpiece to Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, who refused because of the high price. Rubens eventually took it back to Antwerp and, in 1610, placed it on the altar of the Holy Sacrament on the Church of Saint Michael, near the grave of his mother Maria Pypelincx.
The present drawing studies the two main figures of the picture, Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Domitilla. The main variation introduced by Rubens is a change of angle: Saint Gregory is seen in the picture practically in profile to the right, while in the drawing he is seen frontally with his head looking up at the miraculous image. Saint Domitilla is in profile to the right, looking at the spectator in the picture while in the drawing she is seen from the back with her head in profile. The figure in between the two Saints in the drawing was later re-used in the background of The Penitent Magdalen drawing in Vienna of about 1615-20. The figures on the left of the drawing could be variations for the saints.
Two further drawings are connected to the altarpiece, one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of Saint Domitilla alone in the same position as in the present drawing, and another of the whole composition in the Muse Fabre in Montpellier, executed at a later stage, J. Held, op. cit., 1986, nos. 32-3, pls. 33, 39. Three oil sketches are also connected to the altarpiece: Saint Domitilla alone in the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, modelli in Berlin and Siegen, and a sketch from the Seilern collection, H. Vlieghe, op. cit., no. 109c-e, 109g, figs. 28, 25-6, 30.
The verso of the drawing does not seem to be connected to any known composition. Burchard and d'Hulst pointed out that the scene might represent The Burial of the Dead, the last of the Seven Acts of Mercy. Tobias, sitting on the left of the composition as indicated by Rubens' inscription, secretly buried at night the Jews killed by the Assyrian King Sennacherib, L. Burchard and R.A. d'Hulst, op. cit., p. 48. The moment depicted by Rubens is probably Tobit, II, 9: 'And the same night I returned from burying him, and slept by the wall of my courtyard, being polluted; and my face was uncovered'. The half-figure on the lower part of the sheet is probably related to the recto, while the mother and child studied in black chalk on the right appears to be unconnected. The figure seen from behind on the right was later re-used by Rubens in the Assumption, painted in 1619-20, for the Church of the Holy Cross in Augsburg and in the Assumption in Antwerp Cathedral of about 1625-6.
The picture was probably finished by April 1607, but could not be hung before mid-September, as the miraculous picture could not be transferred before then. The picture was eventually placed on the altar, but it was quickly taken down because of the bad lighting: the different figures could hardly be distinguished. The Oratorians were nonetheless happy with the picture and commissioned Rubens to paint another one on a non-reflective material such as schist.
Rubens eventually chose a very different scheme which was composed of three pictures: one in the center enclosing the miraculous image and one of saints on each side. Afterwards Rubens tried to sell the rejected altarpiece to Duke Vincenzo Gonzaga, who refused because of the high price. Rubens eventually took it back to Antwerp and, in 1610, placed it on the altar of the Holy Sacrament on the Church of Saint Michael, near the grave of his mother Maria Pypelincx.
The present drawing studies the two main figures of the picture, Saint Gregory the Great and Saint Domitilla. The main variation introduced by Rubens is a change of angle: Saint Gregory is seen in the picture practically in profile to the right, while in the drawing he is seen frontally with his head looking up at the miraculous image. Saint Domitilla is in profile to the right, looking at the spectator in the picture while in the drawing she is seen from the back with her head in profile. The figure in between the two Saints in the drawing was later re-used in the background of The Penitent Magdalen drawing in Vienna of about 1615-20. The figures on the left of the drawing could be variations for the saints.
Two further drawings are connected to the altarpiece, one in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of Saint Domitilla alone in the same position as in the present drawing, and another of the whole composition in the Muse Fabre in Montpellier, executed at a later stage, J. Held, op. cit., 1986, nos. 32-3, pls. 33, 39. Three oil sketches are also connected to the altarpiece: Saint Domitilla alone in the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo, modelli in Berlin and Siegen, and a sketch from the Seilern collection, H. Vlieghe, op. cit., no. 109c-e, 109g, figs. 28, 25-6, 30.
The verso of the drawing does not seem to be connected to any known composition. Burchard and d'Hulst pointed out that the scene might represent The Burial of the Dead, the last of the Seven Acts of Mercy. Tobias, sitting on the left of the composition as indicated by Rubens' inscription, secretly buried at night the Jews killed by the Assyrian King Sennacherib, L. Burchard and R.A. d'Hulst, op. cit., p. 48. The moment depicted by Rubens is probably Tobit, II, 9: 'And the same night I returned from burying him, and slept by the wall of my courtyard, being polluted; and my face was uncovered'. The half-figure on the lower part of the sheet is probably related to the recto, while the mother and child studied in black chalk on the right appears to be unconnected. The figure seen from behind on the right was later re-used by Rubens in the Assumption, painted in 1619-20, for the Church of the Holy Cross in Augsburg and in the Assumption in Antwerp Cathedral of about 1625-6.