Lot Essay
The figure on the recto is based on the antique statue of the so-called Farnese Flora, now in the Museo Nazionale, Naples, F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the Antique. The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900, New Haven and London, 1981, no. 41, illustrated. In the 16th Century, the statue was placed in the courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese, Rome.
In 1556 the statue was recorded as being unrestored in Ulisse Aldovrandi's Delle statue antiche, che per Roma, in diversi luoghi, & case si veggono. Five years later, it was illustrated in its restored state in Cavaleriis' Antiquae statuae urbis Romae, published in Rome in 1561. Maerten van Heemskerck made three drawings of the unrestored statue, with the head and arms missing, during his stay in Rome between 1532 and 1536, F. Haskell and N. Penny, op. cit., p. 218. Another drawing of the unrestored version, which has been tentatively attributed to Marcantonio Raimondi, is at the Uffizi (inv. 1160 E).
The present drawing shows the complete figure of Flora. It is, however, based on the unrestored statue and not on the later version as it is known today. This is suggested not only by the style of the drawing, which seems to date it to the 1530s, but also by the fact that head and arms differ significantly from the restored sculpture: the right arm is much closer to the body, the left arm is farther outstretched, offering different types of flowers, and the head is based on Florentine Renaissance models taken from Rosso and Michelangelo rather than on antique sculptures.
The drawing seems to represent an antique model perfected by a Renaissance artist. He did, however, not only try to complete the damaged figure, but he also corrected it according to the requirements of the new maniera: the contraposto is much stronger, the pose of the right arm is highly artificial, and was used in exactly the same way by artists such as Salviati and Vasari. Further, the proportions of the figure are more elongated than those of the model. .
The drawing of a running figure on the verso shows a more fluid drawing style. An attribution to the youthful Fancesco Salviati has been suggested.
We are grateful to Ruth Rubinstein for her help in cataloguing this drawing.
In 1556 the statue was recorded as being unrestored in Ulisse Aldovrandi's Delle statue antiche, che per Roma, in diversi luoghi, & case si veggono. Five years later, it was illustrated in its restored state in Cavaleriis' Antiquae statuae urbis Romae, published in Rome in 1561. Maerten van Heemskerck made three drawings of the unrestored statue, with the head and arms missing, during his stay in Rome between 1532 and 1536, F. Haskell and N. Penny, op. cit., p. 218. Another drawing of the unrestored version, which has been tentatively attributed to Marcantonio Raimondi, is at the Uffizi (inv. 1160 E).
The present drawing shows the complete figure of Flora. It is, however, based on the unrestored statue and not on the later version as it is known today. This is suggested not only by the style of the drawing, which seems to date it to the 1530s, but also by the fact that head and arms differ significantly from the restored sculpture: the right arm is much closer to the body, the left arm is farther outstretched, offering different types of flowers, and the head is based on Florentine Renaissance models taken from Rosso and Michelangelo rather than on antique sculptures.
The drawing seems to represent an antique model perfected by a Renaissance artist. He did, however, not only try to complete the damaged figure, but he also corrected it according to the requirements of the new maniera: the contraposto is much stronger, the pose of the right arm is highly artificial, and was used in exactly the same way by artists such as Salviati and Vasari. Further, the proportions of the figure are more elongated than those of the model. .
The drawing of a running figure on the verso shows a more fluid drawing style. An attribution to the youthful Fancesco Salviati has been suggested.
We are grateful to Ruth Rubinstein for her help in cataloguing this drawing.