Pen and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk, squared in black chalk
264 x 247 mm.
Provenance:
Private collection, Boston
Born into a prominent family of majolica artists in the Marchigian town of Urbania, or Casteldurante as it was called until the seventeenth century, Picchi spent most of his career in the Marches and in Rome. While the precise location of his birth is unknown, he was probably raised in Rome where his parents ran a successful majolica bottega.1 In 1582 he executed his first major altarpiece, the [Immaculate Conception] for the Church of San Francesco, Urbania, followed in 1586 by a second painting for that church, depicting the [Adoration of the Magi].2
Our finished composition drawing relates to another project for San Francesco, executed somewhat later in the 1590s. More specifically, it was made in preparation for one of the frescoes of the extensive, yet today almost entirely lost fresco cycle of the [Life of St. Francis] in the church’s [chiostro nuovo]. While only a few frescoes, such as [St. Francis meeting St. Dominic], the [Adoration of the Child], or the [Investment of St. Claire] are still extant, several further compositions are known by preparatory drawings at Turin (Fig. 1), Milan, and Rome.3 All these drawings, as well as the present one, are executed in the same technique, and like the frescoes, are lunette-shaped.
This drawing shows St. Francis’ reception in Rome by Pope Honorius III, one of the most significant moments in the early life of the saint. In a bull of 29 November 1223, the pope confirmed the Rule of St. Francis, thus providing the legal basis for the Franciscan order to pursue its life in imitation of Christ. Like most of his fellow Marchigian artists such as Andrea Lilio, Picchi’s paintings are strongly influenced by Barocci yet his drawing style is closer to that of Niccolò Circignani, whom he knew in Rome, or of Cesare Nebbia and Giovanni Guerra, with whom he worked on the decoration of the Scala Santa in the Lateran, and the Biblioteca and Sala Regia in the Vatican.
1. M.Moretti, [I Picchi maiolicari da Casteldurante a Roma], Sant’Angelo in Vado, 2002.
2. For Picchi as a painter see L. Arcangeli, [Contributi per Giorgio Picchi], B. Adembri et al., [Scritti in ricordo di Giovanni Previtali] ,vol.II, [Prospettiva], n.57–60, April 1989 – October 1990, pp.108–16. The seminal article on Picchi as a draughtsman is M.Di Giampaolo, [Per Giorgio Picchi disegnatore], G. C. Sciolla (ed.), [Nuove ricerche in margine alla mostra. Da Leonardo a Rembrandt. Disegni della Biblioteca Reale di Torino], Turin, 1991, pp.177–186. A more recent contribution is M. Moretti, [La celebrazione dei Della Rovere in due dipinti di Giorgio Picchi], Bonita Cleri (ed.), [I Della Rovere nell’Italia delle corti, Luoghi e opere d’arte], Urbino, 2002, pp.141–66.
3. Di Giampaolo, op.cit., figs. 6, 9–11.
Fig.1 Giorgio Picchi, [Investiture of a Monk (St.Francis?)], Turin, Biblioteca Reale