Study of Hands (recto); Study for a Reclining St. Francis (verso)

Daniele Crespi

ca. 1628–30 · Red and white chalk on blue paper (recto); red chalk on blue paper (verso) · Drawings and Prints

This powerful study of hands, drawn after a live model, was used by Crespi for several of his fresco portraits of Carthusian monks at the Chartreuse of Garegnano, in the outskirts of Milan. Repertory drawings such as this one that could be referenced in the making of several figures helped the artist complete the large frescoes in a short amount of time, between 1628 and 1630. The decoration of the Milan Chartreuse, Crespi’s most celebrated achievement as a painter, occurred right before his sudden death in 1630. Datable around the same time (ca.1628) is the lively red-chalk study for St. Frances drawn on the verso of the same sheet: it relates to the same reclining figure in Crespi's altarpice depicting 'The Virgin and Child, St. Francis, St. Charles Borromeo and a donor', formerly in Pavia and now in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan. (F.R., 2015)

Artist

Daniele Crespi

Date

ca. 1628–30

Medium

Red and white chalk on blue paper (recto); red chalk on blue paper (verso)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2015