|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
| PIER FRANCESCO MAZZUCCHELLI, called IL MORAZZONE (Morazzone 1573 – 1625/26 Piacenza)
|
| The Last Supper
|
|
|
| |
|
Pen and brush and brown ink and wash, over black chalk, heightened with white
263 x 408 mm
The drawing is preparatory to a scene on an embroidered gonfalone or standard, which was commissioned from Morazzone in 1508 by the Brotherhood of the Holiest Sacrament for Como Cathedral, where it is still kept today (1). On one side of the standard is an embroidered figure of Saint Abbondio (2), the patron of the church, on the other an embroidered scene with two flying angels adoring a monstrance. The ornamental borders are decorated with scenes painted on canvas, most of which show episodes from the Life of St Abbondio. The one exception is the Last Supper, which appears beneath the scene with the angels, and, like the monstrance above it, ties in to the theme of the Sacrament of the Eucharist.
The study must have been completed by 14 June 1608, the date of the commission, because the document states that the artist had already submitted designs for the twelve narrative scenes. It may be of interest to note that the artist promises to finish all outstanding drawings colorito di chiaro e scuro (i.e. coloured in light and dark, similar to the present drawing).
Further drawings by Morazzone for the standard are in the Uffizi and in Bremen. The Uffizi sheet (3) is a study for The Miracle of Ostia, the one in Bremen (4) is for the figure of St Abbondio and shows him raising his hand in a gesture of blessing, surrounded by a decorative border. Both are drawn in pen and brown ink and wash on faded blue-green paper.
1 Mina Gregori, Il Morazzone. Exh. cat. Varese 1962, p. 42-44, no. 12, plates 38 and 41b
2 Gregori 1962, pl. 39 or illustrated in: Sonja Brink, Italienische Zeichnungen des 16. bis 18. Jahrhunderts. Exh. cat. Bremen 1994, p. 44
3 Inv. no. 7931 S, Gregori 1962, p. 131, no. 26 and plate 47b
4 Brink 1994, pp. 44-45, no. 17 (ill.)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
P. and D. Colnaghi and Co., Ltd - 15 Old Bond Street London W1S 4AX, United Kingdom Tel: +44-20-7491 7408 Fax: +44-20-7491 8851 contact@colnaghi.co.uk
|
|
Designed and managed by Antiques Trade Net
|
|
|