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Lot Essay
Executed by Montagna in 1504-1506 in preparation for his fresco in the Capella di S. Biagio, SS. Nazaro e Celso, Verona, this modello can be listed among the earliest surviving examples of a coloured drawing in Renaissance Italy. The fourth century Armenian bishop is depicted during his beheading by a Roman soldier by order of Emperor Licinius, who began Christian persecution in 316 AD.
Rarely seen in public and published in 1931 by Borenius, who first connected the drawing to Montagna’s mural, the sheet was until recently regarded with general suspicion by scholars as possibly a copy after the final fresco. However, as a result of a new restoration campaign on the extremely damaged murals in Verona, Gianni Peretti (2001) has pointed out numerous and important differences between the present drawing and the final work, proving Montagna’s authorship of this modello. There are significant changes to the landscape and to the group of soldiers and onlookers behind the main figures, but the most notable variations are the saints hands, joined in prayer in the fresco; the position of the head of the horse, turned towards the viewer; the position of the decapitated heads below the horse; the pose and position of the executioner, shifted to the right and markedly changed; the architecture in the background, which has been revised. Given the rather poor condition of the fresco, these details can be better detected in an early photograph, published in 1908 by Aldo Foratti (‘Quattro affreschi di Bartolomeo Montagna’, L’Arte, XI, 1908, p. 222, ill.), and reused in 1915 by Adolfo Venturi for his Storia dell’arte italiana.
Despite its unusual technique, the sheet fits in the style and drawing practice of Montagna, who was no stranger to adding coloured washes to his drawings, as proven by his Madonna and Child in the Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest (inv. 1780; S.F. Rossen, Leonardo to Van Gogh. Master Drawings from Budapest, Washington D.C., 1985, no. 2, ill.). The figures are sensitively defined with the tip of the brush, and shadows conveyed through tiny parallel strokes, a technique entirely characteristic of his drawings and consistent with the work of other contemporary North Italian draftsmen like Carpaccio and Cima. The way of creating sharp, angular folds of draperies appears in other drawings by Montagna, like the Virgin Martyr in the British Museum (inv. 1946,0713.35).
During the 19th century the popularity of Montagna’s Saint Blaise cycle led to the appearance of small reproductive watercolours after the fresco. Contrary to what has been recently implied (Lucco, op. cit., p. 355), the present sheet cannot be considered one of these, as is only too evident from a watercolor after the fresco by British artist Edward Kaiser (1820-1895), signed and dated 1895, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. E.229-1995).
We are grateful to Dr. Sara Menato for confirming the attribution to Bartolomeo Montagna.
Rarely seen in public and published in 1931 by Borenius, who first connected the drawing to Montagna’s mural, the sheet was until recently regarded with general suspicion by scholars as possibly a copy after the final fresco. However, as a result of a new restoration campaign on the extremely damaged murals in Verona, Gianni Peretti (2001) has pointed out numerous and important differences between the present drawing and the final work, proving Montagna’s authorship of this modello. There are significant changes to the landscape and to the group of soldiers and onlookers behind the main figures, but the most notable variations are the saints hands, joined in prayer in the fresco; the position of the head of the horse, turned towards the viewer; the position of the decapitated heads below the horse; the pose and position of the executioner, shifted to the right and markedly changed; the architecture in the background, which has been revised. Given the rather poor condition of the fresco, these details can be better detected in an early photograph, published in 1908 by Aldo Foratti (‘Quattro affreschi di Bartolomeo Montagna’, L’Arte, XI, 1908, p. 222, ill.), and reused in 1915 by Adolfo Venturi for his Storia dell’arte italiana.
Despite its unusual technique, the sheet fits in the style and drawing practice of Montagna, who was no stranger to adding coloured washes to his drawings, as proven by his Madonna and Child in the Szépművészeti Múzeum, Budapest (inv. 1780; S.F. Rossen, Leonardo to Van Gogh. Master Drawings from Budapest, Washington D.C., 1985, no. 2, ill.). The figures are sensitively defined with the tip of the brush, and shadows conveyed through tiny parallel strokes, a technique entirely characteristic of his drawings and consistent with the work of other contemporary North Italian draftsmen like Carpaccio and Cima. The way of creating sharp, angular folds of draperies appears in other drawings by Montagna, like the Virgin Martyr in the British Museum (inv. 1946,0713.35).
During the 19th century the popularity of Montagna’s Saint Blaise cycle led to the appearance of small reproductive watercolours after the fresco. Contrary to what has been recently implied (Lucco, op. cit., p. 355), the present sheet cannot be considered one of these, as is only too evident from a watercolor after the fresco by British artist Edward Kaiser (1820-1895), signed and dated 1895, now in the Victoria and Albert Museum (inv. E.229-1995).
We are grateful to Dr. Sara Menato for confirming the attribution to Bartolomeo Montagna.