Lot Essay
Although attributed to Tribolò by Christopher Lloyd in his article in Master Drawings, Dr. Ulrich Middeldorf was the first to point out that the series was in fact by Jacone, a pupil of Andrea del Sarto. Two drawings by this hand in the Uffizi bear contemporary attributions to 'Giacone' and 'Giacone fiorentino'. James Byam Shaw added that the features of the figure of the present drawing are comparable to that of the Virgin in the Virgin and Child with Four Saints in the church of the Madonna del Calcinaio in Cortona, Byam Shaw, op. cit., fig. 17.
Vasari, who met the artist, wrote that Jacone was part of the 'Hippy' society and went on to describe his life style: 'under the pretence of living the philosophic life, lived like pigs and cattle, never washing hands or face or head or beard, never cleaning their houses or making their beds, except about once every two months...and this they thought the best life in the world', G. Vasari, Le vite de' più eccelenti pittori, scultori ed architettori, ed. Florence, 1878-85, p. 452. Vasari adds that these artists 'used cartoons for their paintings as table-cloths, and drank their wine only by the bottle or the tankard'; this explains the purple-coloured stains on most of Jacone's drawings, including the present one.
A large group of drawings by Jacone, some with a mount similar to that of the present sheet, is at Christ Church, Oxford, Byam Shaw, op. cit., nos. 101-6, pls. 75-9.
Vasari, who met the artist, wrote that Jacone was part of the 'Hippy' society and went on to describe his life style: 'under the pretence of living the philosophic life, lived like pigs and cattle, never washing hands or face or head or beard, never cleaning their houses or making their beds, except about once every two months...and this they thought the best life in the world', G. Vasari, Le vite de' più eccelenti pittori, scultori ed architettori, ed. Florence, 1878-85, p. 452. Vasari adds that these artists 'used cartoons for their paintings as table-cloths, and drank their wine only by the bottle or the tankard'; this explains the purple-coloured stains on most of Jacone's drawings, including the present one.
A large group of drawings by Jacone, some with a mount similar to that of the present sheet, is at Christ Church, Oxford, Byam Shaw, op. cit., nos. 101-6, pls. 75-9.