The Birth of the Virgin

Alternatively known as Niccolò da Pesaro, after his native town, Trometta worked in Rome and was a follower of Taddeo Zuccaro (1529-1566). Few of his works survive, but among the finest (described as 'l'opera migliore' by Baglione) are his frescoes for Santa Maria Aracoeli in Rome for which the present sheet is a study. These frescoes were commissioned by Pope Pius IV in 1561 and Trometta worked on them between 1566 and 1568. The Birth of the Virgin is situated in the choir, and flanks the central fresco of the Virgin and Child with Angels along with the Presentation of the Virgin. Several other drawings related to the Santa Maria Aracoeli frescoes are known, and are listed in John Gere's seminal article on Trometta as a draughtsman ('Drawings by Niccolò Martinelli, il Trometta', Master Drawings,1963, I, no. 4, pp. 3-18, pl. 1-15b). He notes one drawing including a woman holding a jug and large dish which is a study for a figure in the background of the Birth of the Virgin (pp. 10, 14, no. 3). At the time of the 1963 article, Gere was unaware of the present sheet.