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Lot Essay
This addition to Parmigianino’s drawn œuvre is a study – in reverse – for the centrally placed figure of the executioner in a chiaroscuro woodcut by Antonio da Trento, representing the martyrdom of two saints, probably Saints Paul and Peter, and dated towards the end of the 1520s (fig. 1; see A. Bartsch, Le Peintre graveur, XII, Vienna, 1811, XII, pp. 79-80, no. 28; A. Gnann, Parmigianino und sein Kreis. Druckgraphik aus der Sammlung Baselitz, exhib. cat., Munich, Staatliche Graphische Sammlung München, Alte Pinakothek, and Frankfurt, Städel Museum, 2007-2008, nos. 35, 36, ill.; L. Stiber Morenus and N. Takahatake in The Chiaroscuro Woodcut in Renaissance Italy, exhib. cat., Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and Washington, National Gallery of Art, 2018-2019, nos. 35-37, ill.). With notable differences, the composition was also engraved by another regular collaborator of the great master from Parma, Gian Jacopo Caraglio, in a print dated slightly earlier, around 1525 (Bartsch, op. cit., XV, 1813, pp. 71-72, no. 8; Gnann, op. cit., 2007-2008, no. 34, ill.).
Among the changes introduced between the two closely related compositions is the position of the executioner: whereas in the engraving he holds the sword behind his back and has placed his weight on his right leg, in the woodcut he stands firmly on both legs and holds the sword above his head, ready to sever the head of the man at his feet. Several preparatory studies are known for the engraving, notably three compositional studies in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. 6399, 6400), and the British Museum, London (inv. 1904,1201.2; see A.E. Popham, Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino, New Haven and London, 1971, I, nos. 379, 380, 190, II, pls. 135-137; and A. Gnann, Parmigianino. Die Zeichnungen, Petersberg, 2007, 203-205). The latter sheet, which is incised, was the direct model for Caraglio’s plate. Several studies in pen or chalk for figures in the composition also survive, in particular for the figures at left and right in the two compositions (Louvre, inv. 6428; and British Museum, inv. 1961,1014.9; see Popham, op. cit., I, nos. 407, 191, II, pls. 140, 138; and Gnann, op. cit., 2007, nos. 206, 207).
Despite the pentimenti noticeable around the figure’s hands and the contour of his head, the newly discovered drawing, deftly executed in black chalk, is less exploratory than these and other studies for the prints, and it must have been made when the final design for Antonio’s print had been decided on, and Parmigianino was about to produce the (now lost) model. (As suggested by Naoko Takahatake, this design may have been destroyed in the process of transferring the design, or even drawn directly on the woodblock before it was cut by Antonio (op. cit., p. 117).) The drawing, as well as all other studies related to the prints, and indeed the very existence of two plates of the same subject in different techniques attest to Parmigianino’s deep interest in printmaking and the artistic possibilities it offered him.
We are grateful to David Ekserdjian and Achim Gnann for supporting the attribution to Parmigianino on the basis of a digital photograph.
Fig. 1. Antonio da Trento, after Parmigianino, The martyrdom of two saints. Chiaroscuro woodcut. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Among the changes introduced between the two closely related compositions is the position of the executioner: whereas in the engraving he holds the sword behind his back and has placed his weight on his right leg, in the woodcut he stands firmly on both legs and holds the sword above his head, ready to sever the head of the man at his feet. Several preparatory studies are known for the engraving, notably three compositional studies in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. 6399, 6400), and the British Museum, London (inv. 1904,1201.2; see A.E. Popham, Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino, New Haven and London, 1971, I, nos. 379, 380, 190, II, pls. 135-137; and A. Gnann, Parmigianino. Die Zeichnungen, Petersberg, 2007, 203-205). The latter sheet, which is incised, was the direct model for Caraglio’s plate. Several studies in pen or chalk for figures in the composition also survive, in particular for the figures at left and right in the two compositions (Louvre, inv. 6428; and British Museum, inv. 1961,1014.9; see Popham, op. cit., I, nos. 407, 191, II, pls. 140, 138; and Gnann, op. cit., 2007, nos. 206, 207).
Despite the pentimenti noticeable around the figure’s hands and the contour of his head, the newly discovered drawing, deftly executed in black chalk, is less exploratory than these and other studies for the prints, and it must have been made when the final design for Antonio’s print had been decided on, and Parmigianino was about to produce the (now lost) model. (As suggested by Naoko Takahatake, this design may have been destroyed in the process of transferring the design, or even drawn directly on the woodblock before it was cut by Antonio (op. cit., p. 117).) The drawing, as well as all other studies related to the prints, and indeed the very existence of two plates of the same subject in different techniques attest to Parmigianino’s deep interest in printmaking and the artistic possibilities it offered him.
We are grateful to David Ekserdjian and Achim Gnann for supporting the attribution to Parmigianino on the basis of a digital photograph.
Fig. 1. Antonio da Trento, after Parmigianino, The martyrdom of two saints. Chiaroscuro woodcut. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.