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Lot Essay
Marking one of the high points in Roman Baroque drawing, this impressively large sheet by Carlo Maratti is the final design for his altarpiece, still in situ in the Cybo Chapel at Santa Maria del Popolo, Rome. Defined by Maratti in a flawless red chalk technique are the Church Fathers, Saints Gregory, Augustine and John Chrysostom, joined by Saint John the Evangelist in discussing the mystery of the Immaculate Conception, symbolically represented by the apparition of the enthroned Virgin Mary, floating above their heads, surrounded by cherubs. Commissioned by Cardinal Alderano Cybo (1613-1700), the Chapel is one of 17th-century Rome’s architectural and pictorial masterpieces. Architect Carlo Fontana (1638-1714) begun its lavish renovation in 1682 and after the completion of the building work was joined by Maratti in the decoration of the interiors, which he carried out between 1684 and 1686. The Cybo Chapel was unveiled on May 19, 1687 and Maratti’s altarpiece achieved instant fame as a new icon of Baroque Classicism: it was engraved in 1687 by Nicolas Dorigny and highly praised by contemporary accounts, including the artist’s posthumous biography (1689) written by Giovanni Pietro Bellori (published in Ritratti di alcuni celebri pittori del secolo XVII…, Rome, 1731, p. 187).
As first explained by J.K. and R.H. Westin (Carlo Maratti and His Contemporaries, exh. cat. Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, 1975, p. 54), Maratti executed his altarpiece in oil paint on the wall, not on canvas, and hence was forced to complete the work on the spot, as the paint could not be reworked extensively once it was applied to the surface. As a result, he worked out most of the problems arising from the monumental composition of its over-life-size figures through preparatory drawings. This explains the unusually large number of related studies. The altarpiece design progress can be precisely followed from the early sketch in pen and ink in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 64.295.2), to the more finished drafts at Windsor (inv. RCIN 904096), Düsseldorf (Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, inv. FP 1131), Chatsworth (inv. 569), Madrid (Academia de San Fernando, inv. 1816, 1683-84) and New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 62.137, 63.18), alternatively executed in pen and ink and in red chalk (Westin, op. cit., nos. 29-32, ill.; J. Bean, L. Turčić, 17th century Italian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979, nos. 277-78, 282, ill.; D. Graf, Master Drawings of the Roman Baroque from the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, London, 1973, no. 95, ill.; V.M. Nieto Alcaide, Carlo Maratti. Cuarenta y tres dibujos de tema religioso, Madrid, 1965, nos. 18-23, ill.; M. Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings, II, London, 1994, no. 260, ill.; M. Clayton in The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection: Renaissance and Baroque, London, 2007, no. 149, ill.).
Maratti’s point of departure for the present drawing is, however, a smaller sketch in The Morgan Library & Museum, New York (inv. IV, 183; F. Stampfle and J. Bean, Drawings from New York Collections. II. The Seventeenth Century in Italy, New York, 1967, no. 116, ill.), which records a stage of the design particularly close to the final painting. Standing to the left, Saint John the Evangelist has ultimately acquired his prominent position, pointing to the Gospel while eloquently gesturing towards the Virgin; Gregory and the seated John Chrysostom are looking at him, and Augustine is seated on the stairs in the foreground. Within the sequence of early drafts, the present sheet stands out for its monumental size and polished execution, which emphasize Maratti’s formal clarity and the near-sculptural presence of the figures. Evidently, this sheet served as the starting point to develop some specific studies for individual poses, gestures and draperies for all the figures involved (reviewed by N. Turner, Roman Baroque Drawings c. 1620 to c. 1700, I, London, 1999, pp. 135-37, under nos. 190-91). Other than these detailed drawings, there are no known sheets closer to the final painting than the present work.
Conscious of the altar’s position in the church - directly facing Raphael’s Chigi Chapel - Maratti evidently honoured the Renaissance master by quoting his Roman works: more than the painting, this drawing pays homage to Raphael’s Foligno Madonna in the Pinacotheca Vaticana (1512) in the pose of the Virgin, while the imposing, statuesque figures of the Church Fathers and Saint John closely resemble the ones in the Disputà and the School of Athens frescoed in the Vatican Stanze (1509-11).
As first explained by J.K. and R.H. Westin (Carlo Maratti and His Contemporaries, exh. cat. Museum of Art, Pennsylvania State University, 1975, p. 54), Maratti executed his altarpiece in oil paint on the wall, not on canvas, and hence was forced to complete the work on the spot, as the paint could not be reworked extensively once it was applied to the surface. As a result, he worked out most of the problems arising from the monumental composition of its over-life-size figures through preparatory drawings. This explains the unusually large number of related studies. The altarpiece design progress can be precisely followed from the early sketch in pen and ink in The Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 64.295.2), to the more finished drafts at Windsor (inv. RCIN 904096), Düsseldorf (Stiftung Museum Kunstpalast, inv. FP 1131), Chatsworth (inv. 569), Madrid (Academia de San Fernando, inv. 1816, 1683-84) and New York (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, inv. 62.137, 63.18), alternatively executed in pen and ink and in red chalk (Westin, op. cit., nos. 29-32, ill.; J. Bean, L. Turčić, 17th century Italian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979, nos. 277-78, 282, ill.; D. Graf, Master Drawings of the Roman Baroque from the Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf, London, 1973, no. 95, ill.; V.M. Nieto Alcaide, Carlo Maratti. Cuarenta y tres dibujos de tema religioso, Madrid, 1965, nos. 18-23, ill.; M. Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings, II, London, 1994, no. 260, ill.; M. Clayton in The Art of Italy in the Royal Collection: Renaissance and Baroque, London, 2007, no. 149, ill.).
Maratti’s point of departure for the present drawing is, however, a smaller sketch in The Morgan Library & Museum, New York (inv. IV, 183; F. Stampfle and J. Bean, Drawings from New York Collections. II. The Seventeenth Century in Italy, New York, 1967, no. 116, ill.), which records a stage of the design particularly close to the final painting. Standing to the left, Saint John the Evangelist has ultimately acquired his prominent position, pointing to the Gospel while eloquently gesturing towards the Virgin; Gregory and the seated John Chrysostom are looking at him, and Augustine is seated on the stairs in the foreground. Within the sequence of early drafts, the present sheet stands out for its monumental size and polished execution, which emphasize Maratti’s formal clarity and the near-sculptural presence of the figures. Evidently, this sheet served as the starting point to develop some specific studies for individual poses, gestures and draperies for all the figures involved (reviewed by N. Turner, Roman Baroque Drawings c. 1620 to c. 1700, I, London, 1999, pp. 135-37, under nos. 190-91). Other than these detailed drawings, there are no known sheets closer to the final painting than the present work.
Conscious of the altar’s position in the church - directly facing Raphael’s Chigi Chapel - Maratti evidently honoured the Renaissance master by quoting his Roman works: more than the painting, this drawing pays homage to Raphael’s Foligno Madonna in the Pinacotheca Vaticana (1512) in the pose of the Virgin, while the imposing, statuesque figures of the Church Fathers and Saint John closely resemble the ones in the Disputà and the School of Athens frescoed in the Vatican Stanze (1509-11).