{"id":2191,"date":"2011-11-23T15:16:44","date_gmt":"2011-11-23T19:16:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/"},"modified":"2015-05-26T22:32:56","modified_gmt":"2015-05-27T02:32:56","slug":"d-34-throne-of-solomon","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/drawings\/d-34-throne-of-solomon\/","title":{"rendered":"D.34 Throne of Solomon"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

D.34 Throne of Solomon<\/p><\/div>\n

For an Unexecuted Fresco at S. Maria delle Lagrime, Arezzo<\/strong><\/p>\n

1529<\/p>\n

Bayonne, Mus\u00e9e Bonnat, no. 1741 (formerly no. 144).<\/p>\n

Fig.D.34<\/a><\/p>\n

Pen and ink and point of brush and brown wash over traces of black chalk, lightly squared in black chalk; 33.4 x 26.1 (the drawing is contained within a quarter-circle with the arc at the left, its edge drawn twice, the outer one enlarging the area of the bottom by about 1.5 cm, but rising to the same point at the top as the inner arc); laid down; wm.?; a horizontal tear just below the center, apparently where the drawing was once folded, has been repaired.<\/p>\n

PROVENANCE: Mariette (Lugt 1852); Bonnat (Lugt 1714).<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

\n

Serie degli uomini i pi\u00f9 illustri nella pittura,…<\/em>, V, Florence, 1772, 200, no. 1, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Basan (Mariette sale), 1775, no. 677, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Milanesi, in Vasari-Milanesi, V, 164, n. 3, mentioned that a drawing by Rosso of the Throne of Solomon<\/em> for the Lagrime project was in Mariette\u2019s collection.<\/p>\n

Gustave Gruyer, Ville de Bayonne. Mus\u00e9e Bonnat. Collection Bonnat. Catalogue sommaire<\/em>, Paris, 1908, 77, no. 144, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Kusenberg, 1931, 104, 137, 138, no. 2, 190, n. 94, PL. LVII, as Rosso, and, by implication, that it was done for a lost fresco at Fontainebleau; also that another unknown drawing of the same scene was owned by Mariette.<\/p>\n

Berenson, 1938, no. 2392A, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Becherucci, 1944, 30 (1949, 30-31), as Rosso, for the Lagrime frescoes.<\/p>\n

Barocchi, Commentari<\/em>, I, 1950, 159, 160.<\/p>\n

Barocchi, 1950, 71-73, as Rosso and probably for the Lagrime project; she recognized the influence of D\u00fcrer and Hans Baldung Grien.<\/p>\n

Bean, 1960, no. 146, as Rosso, for the Lagrime project.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1961, 446, 447, Fig. 4, as Rosso, for the Lagrime frescoes.<\/p>\n

Berenson, 1961, no. 2392A, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Forlani, [1964], 168, under no. 29, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1964 (1976), I, Bk. I, 187, 191-196, 199-202, 204-205, 207, II, Bk. II, 301-308, D.30, Bk. III, Fig. 88.\u00a0 Borea, 1965, as recording part of the Lagrime project.<\/p>\n

Shearman, 1966, 164, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1966, 168, 169, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Fagiolo dell\u2019Arco, 1970, 110, n. 12, Fig. 227.<\/p>\n

Salmi, 1971, 123, 135, n. 24, as Rosso, for the Lagrime frescoes.<\/p>\n

Collobi Ragghianti, \u201cLibra de\u2019Disegni,\u201d 1971, 22, 23, Fig. 11, as Rosso, and as once in Vasari\u2019s collection of drawings.<\/p>\n

Monbeig-Goguel, 1971, 87, Fig. 2, as Rosso, for the Lagrime frescoes, and as reflecting an interest in Leonardo\u2019s light and in the art of Piero di Cosimo.<\/p>\n

Ragghianti Collobi, 1974, I, 118, II, 201, Fig. 372, as Rosso, and as part of Rosso\u2019s \u201cmodello\u201d for the Lagrime project that was owned by Vasari. Shows traces of restoration of the kind used by Vasari.<\/p>\n

Michael Hirst, \u201cA Project of Michelangelo\u2019s for the Tomb of Julius II,\u201d Master Drawings<\/em>, XIV, 41, 1976, 380, as Rosso and graphically related to drawings that he attributed to Michelangelo for the 1513 project of the Tomb of Julius II.<\/p>\n

Julian Klieman, in Giorgio Vasari<\/em>, 1981, 104, under no. 2.<\/p>\n

Darragon, 1983, 51, Fig. 32.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 10, 26, Fig. 3.<\/p>\n

Franklin, 1994, 198, 237-241, 246, 255, Pl. 187, as by Rosso, for the Lagrime project.<\/p>\n

Ciardi, 1994, 85, 88, Fig., 97, n. 159, as a theme favored by Dominicans, but mostly in Northern Europe.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The attribution of this drawing to Rosso has never been questioned.\u00a0 Bean thought that certain unspecified contours had been redrawn, perhaps by another hand.\u00a0 But such redrawing, if it exists, must be very limited, for no lines appear obviously to have been re-worked.\u00a0 The steely character of the penmanship is characteristic of this kind of drawing by Rosso.\u00a0 However, the drawing has been rubbed in places, which is especially visible in the washes.<\/p>\n

The drawing can be related to Vasari\u2019s description of a cartoon of the Throne of Solomon<\/em> that Rosso made for the frescoes that he was to execute at S. Maria delle Lagrime in Arezzo.\u00a0 The quarter-circle shape of the drawing, which would have been made before the cartoon, matches the wall areas of the center bay of the atrium that were to be painted, and the pointed corner indicated in the drawing at the upper right matches the end of one of the pediments over the interior windows of the north and south walls.<\/p>\n

The organization of the figures in the Throne of Solomon <\/em>in a series of narrowly spaced planes all parallel to the surface of the design reveals the same mode of composition that characterizes Rosso\u2019s Piet\u00e0<\/em> in Borgo Sansepolcro (Fig.P.19a<\/a>), his Christ in Glory <\/em>in Citt\u00e0 di Castello (Fig.P.20a<\/a>), and his Piet\u00e0<\/em> in the Louvre (Fig.P.23a<\/a>).\u00a0 Although the shape of the Bayonne drawing does not lend itself to a strictly symmetrical composition, the figures and the other forms in the scene are balanced against each other at either side of a rather well defined central axis.\u00a0 This occurs also, but with more precision, in the rectangular pictures in Borgo Sansepolcro and Citt\u00e0 di Castello.\u00a0 The richly dressed women in the drawing are clearly related to those in the same two paintings.\u00a0 Such old bearded men as appear in the Throne of Solomon<\/em> are also found in the Borgo Sansepolcro picture, and the round-faced youth holding a votive picture on a staff – showing a figure reclining on a bed with something in the sky above him (a divine apparition?) – resembles the young man at the head of Christ in the same picture (Fig.P.19c<\/a>).\u00a0 Compositionally, and in detail, the Bayonne drawing is intimately related to Rosso\u2019s style, and particularly to his works done between 1527 and 1530, during which he designed the frescoes for S. Maria delle Lagrime.<\/p>\n

The quality of the drawing further supports its attribution to Rosso, as it exhibits the same particular sensitivity to the description of form, details, and light that is seen in his paintings.\u00a0 Although the slightly later Annunciation<\/em> in the Albertina (Fig.D.43a<\/a>) is more finished, it shows the same steely pen lines and careful brushwork with which the Throne of Solomon<\/em> is drawn.\u00a0 The Bayonne drawing is certainly an autograph drawing by Rosso, the distinctive original character of which is made clear by comparing it with the excellent but less poignantly detailed version, and possible copy, in the British Museum of Rosso\u2019s drawing for the Ark of the Covenant<\/em> allegory also made for S. Maria delle Lagrime (Fig.D.33Aa<\/a>).<\/p>\n

With the light in the Throne of Solomon<\/em> falling from the upper left, this composition must have been planned for the left half-lunette on the north side of the atrium.\u00a0 Only in this position is the illumination in the scene related to the fall of the light from the window in the fa\u00e7ade of the church.\u00a0 It is from this direction that all the scenes made by Rosso for the large half-lunettes on the north and south sides of the atrium are lit.\u00a0 The half-lunettes of the fa\u00e7ade wall are narrower.\u00a0 To the right of the Throne of Solomon<\/em> would have been the Allegory of the Virgin as the Ark of the Covenant<\/em>.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Rosso\u2019s drawing would have been made between 24 November 1528, when the Lagrime project was commissioned, and mid-September 1529, when Rosso fled from Arezzo.\u00a0 But as Rosso\u2019s two versions of the Allegory of the Immaculate Conception<\/em> (Fig.D.31<\/a>; Fig.D.32<\/a>), because of their close similarity to Rosso\u2019s study of 1528 (Fig.D.29<\/a>) for the Christ in Glory<\/em>, would seem to have been done first for the Lagrime project, in 1528-1529, the Throne of Solomon<\/em> was most probably made in 1529.\u00a0 On stylistic grounds it would seem to have been composed about the same time as the Ark of the Covenant<\/em> allegory.<\/p>\n

COPIES: Paris, Louvre, Inv. 1576 (Fig.D.34 Copy, Paris, 1576<\/a>).\u00a0 Pen and ink and wash over outlines in red chalk; 27.3 x 27.6, cut at the top and left side, and the upper corners also cut and added; laid down; wm?.\u00a0 LITERATURE: Kusenberg, 1931, 149, no. 14.\u00a0 Bean, 1960, under no. 146.\u00a0 Carroll, 1964 (1976), II, Bk. II, 301, under D.30.<\/p>\n

Paris, Louvre, Inv. 34951 (Fig.D.34 Copy, Paris, 34951<\/a>).\u00a0 Pen and ink on transparent yellow paper; 30.6 x 25.9; laid down; wm?.\u00a0 LITERATURE: Hercenberg, 1975, 174, no. 403 (with the measurement reversed), Pl. CLII, Fig. 250, as from the shop of Nicolas Vleughels.\u00a0 Darragon, 1983, 53-54, n. 8.\u00a0 Comte d\u2019Orsay, 1983, 180, Ors. 793.<\/p>\n

This copy, where the very top of the arched area is cut off, may have been traced from Rosso\u2019s drawing.\u00a0 Hercenberg mentioned that the drawing also has brown wash, which must refer to the stain in the center of the drawing.<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
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<\/a>1<\/sup> The double drawing of the arc of the drawing might imply that the area set off for a composition was intended for a scene for the narrower area to the left of the window in the fa\u00e7ade.\u00a0 However, the light in the Throne of Solomon<\/em> falls opposite to the direction of the natural light imagined as coming from the fa\u00e7ade window.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For an Unexecuted Fresco at S. Maria delle Lagrime, Arezzo 1529 Bayonne, Mus\u00e9e Bonnat, no. 1741 (formerly no. 144). Fig.D.34 Pen and ink and point of brush and brown wash over traces of black chalk, lightly squared in black chalk; 33.4 x 26.1 (the drawing is contained within a quarter-circle with the arc at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":820,"menu_order":36,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2191","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2191"}],"version-history":[{"count":14,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2191\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11127,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2191\/revisions\/11127"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}