Study for a Figure of Saint Joseph

Bartolomeo Schedoni

ca. 1595–1615 · Black chalk, highlighted with white gouache, on blue-gray paper · Drawings and Prints

The figure in this quick, luminous sketch is seen from below in a tightly compressed foreshortening to conform with the eye of a spectator viewing the form from the ground. The sketch was preparatory for the upper portion of a very tall, monumental altarpiece (Museo Nazionale di Capodimonte, Naples), originally commissioned from Schedoni in 1607 for the Cathedral of Fanano near Modena. The way of blocking the figure in terms of broad planes of light and shadow within bold economic outlines on blue-gray paper is typical of this artist's practice. The incorrect attribution to Pietro da Cortona at lower right was written by an early collector.

Artist

Bartolomeo Schedoni

Date

ca. 1595–1615

Medium

Black chalk, highlighted with white gouache, on blue-gray paper

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2002