D.7 Standing Male Nude
Study for the Figure of St. Sebastian in the Dei Altarpiece
1522
Florence, Uffizi, no. 478F.
Red chalk, 40 x 15.2, including an added strip of c. 10 cm. at the top on which the top of the head is drawn by another hand; laid down; wm., a pear?, similar to Briquet 7386. Inscribed at the upper right: 498; and at the lower left: 673 and 52.
LITERATURE:
Ferri, 1890, 124.
Jacobson, 1898, 274, no. 104.
Berenson, 1903, no. 2402.
Kusenberg, 1931, 139, no. 10, 185, n. 42, 135, Pl. XI.
Rusconi, 1937, 242.
Delacre, 1938, 334, as Rosso.
Berenson, 1938, no. 2402.
Becherucci, 1944, 28 (1949, 28).
Barocchi, 1950, 196-197, 219, Fig. 167.
Luisa Marcucci, in Mostra di disegni, 1954, 22, no. 31.
Sinibaldi, 1960, 17, no. 88.
Berenson, 1961, II, no. 2402, III, Fig. 994.
Carroll, 1961, 446, 450.
Carroll, 1964 (1976), I, Bk. I, 86-95, 97-98, Bk. II, 220-221, D.11, II, Bk. III, Fig. 25. Hirst, 1964, n. 21, as based on Michelangelo’s early lost bronze David, according to Wilde.
Carroll, 1978, 25, 27, Fig. 5.
Forlani Tempesti, in Primato del disegno, 1980, 192, no. 456, and Fig.
Wilmes, 1985, 124, 126, Fig.19.
Carroll, 1987, 10, 20, and Fig. 2, 34, n. 46.
Ciardi and Mugnaini, 1991, 90, as Rosso.
Florence, Figura, 1, 1991, with Fig. and bibliography, as Rosso.
Franklin, 1994, 88-90, Pl. 67.
This drawing has always been recognized as Rosso’s and since 1898 has always been published as a study for the figure of St. Sebastian in the Dei Altarpiece that is dated 1522 (Fig.P.12a; Fig.P.12g). Unlike the saint in the picture, the figure in the drawing is bald and completely nude, details clearly indicating that it was not copied from the altarpiece. The extraordinarily refined draughtsmanship of the drawing and the variations of its contours also clearly indicate that it is not a copy of a lost drawing. In all respects the drawing reveals specifically the same sensibility that is recognizable as Rosso’s in his autograph pictures.