Lot Essay
The present drawing is an early study for the figures leaning over the balustrade in the background of the fresco Joseph greeting his Brothers in the Gallery of Alessandro VII in the Quirinal Palace, Rome, R. Cocke, Pier Francesco Mola, Oxford, 1972, no. 49, pl. 49. The fresco differs from the drawing in having fewer background figures and in the presence of a column in the foreground of the drawing. Another early compositional drawing for Joseph greeting his Brothers in a private collection in Paris shows a group of figures similar to the one in the present drawing, Lugano, loc. cit., no. III. 24, illustrated. None of the other extant compositional drawings shows any of the background figures, R. Cocke, op. cit., pls. 61, 65-6, 71-2. A cartoon for one of Joseph's brothers for the Quirinale fresco was sold at Christie's, London, 3 July 1990, lot 56, illustrated.
Soon after his election to the papacy in 1655, Pope Alexander VII initiated a major program to redecorate the Quirinal Palace. The decorative scheme was supervised by Pietro da Cortona. Mola and Maratta were given two major scenes from the Old and New Testaments; other artists who contributed to the decoration were Baldi, Ferri, Schor, Lauri, Cortese, Grimaldi and Dughet. Mola began to work on his fresco on 13 September 1656 and received the final payment on 27 July 1657.
The verso of the drawing is comparable to drawings of putti in the British Museum which are related to the now destroyed frescoes of the Palazzo Pamphilj in Nettuno, datable 1651-2, Lugano, loc. cit., no. III.5, illustrated.
The caricatures on the recto reflect a more private side of Mola's art. Several caricatures of himself and his friend Simonelli were exhibited in Lugano, loc. cit., nos. III. 89-115, illustrated.
Soon after his election to the papacy in 1655, Pope Alexander VII initiated a major program to redecorate the Quirinal Palace. The decorative scheme was supervised by Pietro da Cortona. Mola and Maratta were given two major scenes from the Old and New Testaments; other artists who contributed to the decoration were Baldi, Ferri, Schor, Lauri, Cortese, Grimaldi and Dughet. Mola began to work on his fresco on 13 September 1656 and received the final payment on 27 July 1657.
The verso of the drawing is comparable to drawings of putti in the British Museum which are related to the now destroyed frescoes of the Palazzo Pamphilj in Nettuno, datable 1651-2, Lugano, loc. cit., no. III.5, illustrated.
The caricatures on the recto reflect a more private side of Mola's art. Several caricatures of himself and his friend Simonelli were exhibited in Lugano, loc. cit., nos. III. 89-115, illustrated.