ENTOURAGE DE FRA BARTOLOMEO (EMPOLI, 1494 - FLORENCE,... Lot n° 1

Study of a Dominican monk Black stone 28 x 14 cm Watermark: pear Provenance Sale San Marco Casa d'Aste, Venice, 6 July 2008, presented as Pontormo. This may be a preparatory study for a larger painting by the master. The artist's attention is focused on the ample movement of the garment, rendered in large strokes and in a vibrant chiaroscuro that gives the whole a soft luminosity effect that is accentuated by the grey prepared paper, according to a technique frequently used in Fra Bartolomeo's studio. This drawing can be compared to the figure of St. Peter in the painting painted in Rome in 1513 by Fra Mariano Fetti for the Church of St. Sylvester with its counterpart St. Paul (Rome, Pinacoteca Vaticana). It is also close to the leaf of the Louvre (inv. 224 r.) considered preparatory to Vatican painting (Fra Bartolomeo et atelier, Louvre Museum, 1994-95, no.75).