Lot 21: Bartolomeo Cincani, il Montagna (c.1450-1523)

The Risen Christ brush and grey ink, grey wash heightened with white on grey-blue paper, the top of the cross on an attached piece of paper, watermark fish (?) 141/4 x 9 1/8 in. (362 x 230 mm.) PROVENANCE W. Mayor (L. 2799). J. Whitehead; Helbing's, Munich, 19 June 1897, lot 9. The Prince of Liechtenstein, Feldsberg. with P.& D. Colnaghi, 1953, no. 14. Major and Mrs. S.V. Christie-Miller. LITERATURE Original Drawings and Sketches by the Old Masters... formed by the late Mr. Wiliam Mayor, London, 1875, no. 26 (as Boltraffio). J. Schonbrunner and J. Meder, Handzeichnungen alter Meister aus der Albertina und anderen Sammlungen, Vienna, 1896-1908, IV, pl. 433 (as School of Bartolomeo Montagna) T. Borenius, The Painters of Vicenza, London, 1909, pp. 102-3 (as Bartolomeo Montagna, 'or at an rate [it] stands very near to [the elder] Montagna'). A.M. Hind, Catalogue of Early Italian Engravings in the British Museum, London, 1910, p. 476 (as Benedetto Montagna). K.T. Parker, 'Benedetto Montagna', Old Master Drawings, September 1928, pp. 23-4 (as Benedetto Montagna). L. Puppi, 'Appunti su Benedetto Montagna pittore', Arte Veneta, 1958, p. 58 (as Benedetto Montagna). L. Puppi, Bartolomeo Montagna, Venice, 1962, p. 150 (as Benedetto Montagna). EXHIBITION Edinburgh, The Merchant Hall, Italian 16th Century Drawings from British Private Collections, 1969, no. 46 (as Bartolomeo Montagna). Washington, National Gallery of Art, Circa 1492: Art in the Age of Exploration, 1992, ex-catalogue (as Bartolomeo Montagna). NOTES Professor W.R. Rearick has kindly confirmed the attribution of the present drawing to Bartolomeo Montagna in a letter dated 14 November 2001. Professor Rearick adds that 'The physical type is his, even though it is oddly mannered in a highly fluttery style that seems to suggest Lombard or perhaps Emilian influence. However, the splendidly assured handling of his typical wash medium is of the finest quality [...]. My impression, however, is that it is a late work, one done after about 1510-1514 when more recent developments in draftsmanship such as Titian had rendered Montagna's position a bit old-fashioned. Its somewhat flaccid character no longer has the decisiveness or vigor of his drawings of the end of the Quattrocento. I would emphasize, however, that it is clearly not the work of his son or of immediate followers such as Speranza, neither of whom departed from Montagna's style of ca. 1495'. The painterly technique of the drawing is typical of Montagna's style: the pen and ink, the wash and the white heightening are applied in small crisp touches of brush on blue paper. A similar technique can also be seen in drawings in the Louvre, formerly at Harewood and at Windsor Castle, all drawn on a similar large blue sheets, L. Puppi, op. cit., 1962, figs. 171, 166 and 90. All these drawings depict figures against a neutral setting, out of any context, with a background simply defined with long strokes of wash. The present drawing, known from an old reproduction of 1900 and exhibited only once before 1992, shows upon examination numerous pentimenti. These are mostly visible around the left arm, under the right hand, around the flag and the drapery. The very assured and fine quality of the handling of the brush, particularly in the face, is close to that of the Christ Salvator Mundi at Windsor Castle. The slightly unusual pose of Christ in the latter drawing, the figure turned to the right but gesturing to the left and seated on a capital, is in its early mannerist character similar to that in the present drawing. The pose of the figure in the Harwood drawing is also far from the stiff postures of the 15th Century and resembles that of the present sheet. The Harewood drawing was, like The Risen Christ, in William Mayor's Collection, as no. 11 of the 1875 catalogue, as Bramante. In the years 1513-4 Bartolomeo Montagna painted a Saint John the Baptist in a landscape, comparable in pose and features to those of the present drawing, L. Puppi, op. cit., 1962, p. 123, fig. 161. A little earlier, Montagna painted Christ carrying the Cross and Christ blessing respectively in the Museo Civico in Vicenza and in the Columbus Gallery of Fine Arts, Ohio, whose features are close to that of the head of Christ in the present drawing. Montagna also drew a pen and brown ink version of The Risen Christ around 1485. The drawing, formerly in Jabach's collection and now in the Louvre (L. Puppi, op. cit., 1962, p. 150, fig. 36), was engraved around 1502-3 by Bartolomeo's son, Benedetto (c.1480-1540). It shows the same detail of crossed fingers on the left hand as does the present sheet.