Lot 304: Raffaello Capponi, called Raffaellino del Garbo (Florence circa 1466-1524)

Raffaello Capponi, called Raffaellino del Garbo (Florence circa 1466-1524)
Study of drapery
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown and pink wash, heightened with white (partly oxidized), indented with the stylus and pricked for transfer, irregular
9¾ x 7 in. (24.7 x 17.7 cm.)

J. Richardson, Sen. (L. 2184), his mount and attribution 'Raffaelino del Garbo' (recto) and associated shelfmarks 'Z 40. ZK 43. LL. 76' (verso).
Sir Joshua Reynolds (L. 2364); A.C. de Poggi, London, 26 May 1794, lot 35, 'Raphaellino del Garbo' (Portfolio B); where purchased for 1 gn. by the 1st Earl of Carysfort, and by descent to the present owner.

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This unpublished drawing is an important addition to the known oeuvre of Raffaellino del Garbo. It is part of a group of designs for embroidery, all executed in the same technique and carefully pricked for transfer. As is the case with the present drawing, few of this series can be related to extant textiles. Among the exceptions are four drawings in the Uffizi (C. Bambach, The Drawings of Filippino Lippi and His Circle, exhib. cat., New York, 1997, p. 41, figs. 22 and 23): the Passerini vestments, for which those drawings are designs, are in the Museo Diocesano, Cortona. In the present drawing the style of the drapery and the clouds visible beneath the feet suggest that the figure represented is the Virgin of the Assumption.

Born in Florence, Raffaellino del Garbo was trained in the workshop of Filippino Lippi, with whom he worked on the frescoes of Saint Thomas Aquinas in the Caraffa Chapel in Santa Maria Minerva, Rome. His early work as an independent master, most notably The Resurrection (circa 1497) executed for the monastery at Monte Oliveto (and now in the Accademia, Venice), earned him a reputation as a talented painter of graceful and elegant pictures. When Vasari came to write Raffaellino's Life, however, he regretted that his later paintings failed to live up to the promise of his youth and suggested that Raffaellino had been distracted from his art by the pressures of his large family. Yet there were elements of Raffaellino's late work which greatly impressed Vasari. He noted that there 'issued from his hand most beautiful designs and fancies ... [for patrons] who used them for embroidery ... that show how able he was in draughtsmanship. ... Wherefore, in return for this benefit, although poverty caused him misery and hardship during his lifetime, he deserves to have honour and glory for his talents after his death.'

The monumental treatment of the folds of drapery suggests that the present drawing is a work from the very end of Raffaellino's career. The graceful influences of Filippino Lippi have been tempered with an appreciation of the more forceful style of painting newly developed by Michelangelo and which the next generation, including Raffaellino's pupil Bronzino, would develop into Florentine Mannerism.

The present drawing already bore an attribution to Raffaellino when it was part of the celebrated collections of the elder Richardson and Sir Joshua Reynolds. It can be identified with certainty as the only drawing given to Raffaellino in the Reynolds sale organised by A.C. de Poggi in 1794, as its number in the catalogue (35) matches that inscribed at upper right on the mount. It was acquired at the sale for 1 gn. by the 1st Earl of Carysfort (1751-1828), a close friend and patron of Reynolds at whose funeral he acted as one of the pall bearers.