Sketches of Figures of the Virgin Kneeling, Saint Peter Standing, Seated Allegorical Figures of Faith and Charity, and Child Standing on a Corbel (?) (recto); Sketches of Figures of Saint Sebastian Standing and the Virgin and Child with Angels (verso)
This sheet is part of a dismembered sketchbook assembled by the sculptor Francesco di Simone Ferrucci and his Florentine workshop. A practical tool, the volume recorded a wide range of motifs, many copied after existing sculptures or sculptural designs. The figure of the kneeling Virgin Mary derives from a type developed by the artist’s celebrated contemporary Andrea del Verrocchio, with whom he sometimes collaborated. That Ferrucci drew this figure on several occasions in the same state of unfinish suggests that his source was a work of art, possibly a relief sculpture, that was itself incomplete. The pair of small female figures at left, allegories of Faith and Charity, and the nude child at top are closely related to Ferrucci’s own designs for altar tabernacles (Uffizi, Florence; V&A, London).
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Title:Sketches of Figures of the Virgin Kneeling, Saint Peter Standing, Seated Allegorical Figures of Faith and Charity, and Child Standing on a Corbel (?) (recto); Sketches of Figures of Saint Sebastian Standing and the Virgin and Child with Angels (verso)
Artist:Attributed to Francesco di Simone Ferrucci (Italian, Fiesole 1437–1493 Florence)
Date:1487–88
Medium:Pen and brown ink, over leadpoint or black chalk, on rose-washed paper
Dimensions:10 13/16 x 7 13/16in. (27.4 x 19.8cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:Bequest of Walter C. Baker, 1971
Object Number:1972.118.252
Inscription: Annotated in pen and brown ink on verso at lower left: m. 53.
Earl of Brownlow (British); Sotheby's, London, July 14, 1926, no. 17, recto repr.(Listed as school of Verrocchio); Philip Hofer(Lugt Suppl. 2087a); Walter C. Baker (American)
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