Lot 263: CRISTOFANO RONCALLI, CALLED IL POMARANCIO

POMARANCIO, NEAR VOLTERRA CIRCA 1553 - 1626 ROME ST. ATHANASIUS Black chalk heightened with white on light brown washed paper 410 by 283 mm

Sale, London, Christie's, 20 April 1993, lot 25, purchased by Ralph Holland

This impressive, large figure study is a preliminary drawing for the mosaic of Saint Athanasius, one of the pendentives representing the Fathers of the Church in the Cappella Clementina, Saint Peter's, Rome.1 Roncalli began work on the pendentives in 1599 and the project was completed in 1601. The final modelli are at Chatsworth.2 A copy after Roncalli's figure of Saint Athanasius is at the Louvre.3 1. I.C. Di Sorio, Cristoforo Roncalli, detto Il Pomarancio, Bergamo 1983, p. 165, fig. 4 2. M. Jaffé, The Devonshire Collection of Italian Drawings - Roman and Neapolitan Schools, London 1994, pp. 172-173, nos. 299-302 3. F. Viatte, Musée du Louvre...Dessins Toscans XVIe-XVIIIe Siècles, vol. 1 1560-1640, Paris 1988, p.198, no. 389, reproduced