{"id":2197,"date":"2011-11-23T15:18:18","date_gmt":"2011-11-23T19:18:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/"},"modified":"2015-05-15T20:07:10","modified_gmt":"2015-05-16T00:07:10","slug":"d-37-altar-with-gathering-of-manna","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/drawings\/d-37-altar-with-gathering-of-manna\/","title":{"rendered":"D.37 Design for a Chapel with an Altarpiece of the Gathering of Manna"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

D.37 Altar, Gathering of Manna<\/p><\/div>\n

1528-1529<\/p>\n

London, British Museum, no. 1948-4-10-5.<\/p>\n

Fig.D.37a<\/a>
Fig.D.37b<\/a> bw
Fig.D.37c<\/a> Gathering of Manna<\/em><\/p>\n

ADD<\/span> Fig.D.37d<\/span> Last Supper<\/em><\/p>\n

Pen and brown ink and gray-brown wash, heightened with transparent and opaque white over traces of black chalk, on light dull gray-green prepared paper, 46.3 x 33.8; laid down; wm?.\u00a0 The drawing is rubbed in places and appears once to have been folded across the center.\u00a0 It is likely that the drawing has been cut at the top and that originally there were vases or possibly flaming urns above.\u00a0 Inscribed in pencil on the mat at the lower right: 456<\/em>, and on the back of the mount, in ink: Disegno Stimatis.mo<\/sup> del \/ Rosso Fiorenti.no<\/sup>; \/ era nella Collezione di \/ Giorgio Vasari<\/em>.<\/p>\n

PROVENANCE: Vasari? (see inscription above); Jabach (see Chennevi\u00e8res, 1894); A. M. Zanetti (from inscription above, on which see Lugt 2992f); Marquis of Lagoy (Lugt 1710); Alcide Donnadieu (Lugt 98); Alphonse Wyatt-Thibaudeau (see Chennevi\u00e8res, 1894); the Marquis Ph. de Chennevi\u00e8res (Lugt 2072 and 2073); L. Deglatigny (Lugt 1768a); presented to the British Museum by the Vasari Society.<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

\n

Chennevi\u00e8res, 1894, 255, as Rosso, and: \u201cCe magnifique dessin, qui a \u00e9t\u00e9 expos\u00e9 au Muse\u00e9 des Arts decoratifs en 1880, devait faire partie de la m\u00eame suite que celui indiqu\u00e9 au catalogue de la vente Mariette.\u201d<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1964 (1976), I, Bk. I, 203-211, II, Bk. II, 313-319, D.32, III, Figs. 91-92, as Rosso and possibly a copy; \u201cAddition to the Preface,\u201d 1976, as autograph.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1966, 168-170, 171, Fig. 2, 172, Fig. 7, as Rosso, and done in Arezzo in 1529.<\/p>\n

Byam Shaw, 1976, I, 67, under no. 125, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Shearman, 1980, 9.<\/p>\n

Turner, 1986, 149, Color Pl., 150, no. 107, as Rosso in the late 1520s.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 25, 28, Fig. 5, 162, under no. 55.\u00a0 B\u00e9guin, 1988 (1989), 11, 12, 13, Fig. 11 (detail), 14, as done in Arezzo and showing the influence of Michelangelo and Sansovino.<\/p>\n

Franklin, 1988, 323, as done in Arezzo around 1529, and as for a Dominican altar.<\/p>\n

Ciardi and Mugnaini, 1991, 150, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Franklin, 1994, 193, 194, 207, 236, 258, 265, Color Pl. 152, as Rosso\u2019s Design for an Altar<\/em>, a modello of the late 1520s, for a free-standing high altar dedicated to the Corpus Domini, and for a specific commission, and perhaps unprecedented with its Old Testament subject.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The scene of the Gathering of Manna<\/em> in the center of this drawing, especially the spherical arrangement of the figures in the lower half of the scene, is similar to the Piet\u00e0<\/em> of 1527-1528 in Borgo Sansepolcro (Fig.P.19a<\/a>).\u00a0 But with an upper and a lower part, and with the latter composed of standing figures at the sides and seated or kneeling figures in the center, the Gathering of Manna <\/em>also resembles the Christ in Glory <\/em>of 1529-1530 (Fig.P.20a<\/a>).\u00a0 However, the activity of the composition is closer to that of the studies of 1528 for this painting (Fig.D.28<\/a>; Fig.D.29<\/a>) than to the somewhat more rigid arrangement in the altarpiece as executed.\u00a0 One is also reminded of Rosso\u2019s Allegory of the Immaculate Conception <\/em>of 1528 known from the drawing in Hamburg (Fig.D.30<\/a>).\u00a0 At the top of the British Museum drawing the two \u201creliefs\u201d bring to mind, in spite of their small size and the laconic manner in which they are drawn, Rosso\u2019s Throne of Solomon <\/em>(Fig.D.34<\/a>).\u00a0 The not very imaginatively conceived \u201cstatues\u201d of St. Dominic and St. Thomas Aquinas are quite closely related to the female figures in Rosso\u2019s Allegory of the Virgin as the Ark of the Covenant <\/em>of 1529 in the British Museum (Fig.D.33Aa<\/a>).<\/p>\n

I had once thought that this drawing might be a copy but I have come to see that it must be an autograph work.\u00a0 Graphically, it resembles the Throne of Solomon<\/em> of 1529 and the Mars and Venus<\/em> of 1539 (Fig.D.42a<\/a>).\u00a0 It is true that its draughtsmanship does not have the subtlety of the handling of those works, but its more regularized manner nevertheless shows the masterful touch of those other drawings.\u00a0 The pen lines and brush strokes of the white highlights are everywhere deftly made, and nowhere is there any sign of the overly complete definition of a form or detail that would betray the hand of a copyist.<\/p>\n

Just as the whole drawing appears to have been executed by Rosso so, too, is its entire invention of architecture and figures his.\u00a0 Iconographically, the scenes and figures, together with the liturgical objects that decorate the frieze, indicate that the chapel was designed as a whole as an altar specifically dedicated to the Sacrament of the Eucharist, and probably for a church of the Dominican order.\u00a0 The architecture, with its rich carvings, narrative \u201creliefs,\u201d and \u201cstatues,\u201d recalls Andrea Sansovino\u2019s as Rosso could have known it from his altar in S. Spirito in Florence and from his tombs in S. Maria del Popolo in Rome.\u00a0 Rosso may well have known Andrea personally in Arezzo, for in September 1528 Sansovino was commissioned to design an altar for the church of S. Maria delle Lagrime in that town,1<\/sup><\/a> the same church for which, two months later, Rosso was assigned to paint a series of frescoes (see Preface to D.31-34).\u00a0 While Rosso\u2019s chapel recalls Andrea\u2019s earlier architecture, the massiveness of Rosso\u2019s design possibly suggests Sansovino\u2019s later work after the time that he began to work on the Casa Santa in Loreto.2<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 These references to Andrea\u2019s early and late architecture, as well as the schematic rendering of the tabernacle set in the arch above, indicate that the chapel would not have been designed by Sansovino, although he could have given Rosso advice.\u00a0 Rosso\u2019s chapel resembles the smaller frame of his Dei Altarpiece in S. Spirito, which could possibly indicate his responsibility for the design of the latter.\u00a0 Franklin thought the design was for a free-standing high altar, which is possible.\u00a0 It could also have been designed to be placed against a wall, in which case it becomes, with all its parts, a kind of wall-chapel.<\/p>\n

As the composition of the central scene of this drawing is most similar to what can be imagined from the surviving drawings as the early design of the Christ in Glory<\/em>, it seems very likely that the chapel drawing was done shortly thereafter, either late in 1528 or early in 1529, and in Arezzo.\u00a0 It was almost certainly done before another Aretine architectural drawing, the Design for an Altar<\/em> (Fig.D.38a<\/a>).\u00a0 The inscription on the back of the mount of the chapel drawing indicates that the attribution of it to Rosso goes back at least to the middle of the eighteenth century.\u00a0 If the drawing was in Vasari\u2019s collection, it would probably have been on one of his inscribed mounts, from which Zanetti could have taken the attribution to Rosso.\u00a0 Vasari\u2019s ownership of the drawing might also lend some support to the dating of it within Rosso\u2019s Aretine period.\u00a0 Executed on green paper, the drawing could be one listed in the 1532 Aretine inventory of Rosso\u2019s possessions as \u201cuno disegno in carta verde\u201d (L.28<\/a>).3<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

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 <\/p>\n

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<\/a>1<\/sup> See Vasari-Milanesi, IV, 522, and Fabriczy, 1906, 90-92.\u00a0 Luigi Grassi, in his notes to Vasari\u2019s “Life” of Sansovino (Vasari-Novara, 1967, IV, 203, n. 5), mentioned a drawing in the Mus\u00e9e Wicar in Lille as Sansovino\u2019s design for this project (Fig.Sansovino, Lille<\/a>).\u00a0 In its basic tripartite scheme with an attic and pediment, it is not unlike the design of Rosso\u2019s chapel, although Sansovino\u2019s drawing does not have the elaborate superficial decoration of Rosso\u2019s. \u00a0For a fuller account of Sansovino\u2019s drawing, see D.38, n. 7.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/a>2<\/sup> In Loreto, Sansovino was carrying out Bramante\u2019s ideas at the Casa Santa (see Lotz, in Lotz and Heydenreich, 1974, 364, n. 24).\u00a0 Sansovino\u2019s later style may be represented by a loggia at Monte San Savino (see Huntly, 1935, 92-93, and Fig. 65).\u00a0 But see also the drawing mentioned in n. 1.<\/div>\n
\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/a>3<\/sup> At some time prior to the seventeenth century, there was an Oratory of St. Thomas Aquinas in the Convent of S. Domenico in Arezzo for which the iconography of Rosso\u2019s chapel is suited.\u00a0 See Capitoli dell\u2019Oratorio del Convento di San Tommaso d\u2019Aquino, eretto qi\u00e0 nel Capitolo del Convento di S. Domenico, e al punto stabilito, & adunato nel medismo vaso dell\u2019Oratorio di Santa Catarina da Siena della Citt\u00e0 d\u2019Arezzo, 1629<\/em>, ms-155 Arezzo, Biblioteca della Citt\u00e0 di Arezzo.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

1528-1529 London, British Museum, no. 1948-4-10-5. Fig.D.37a Fig.D.37b bw Fig.D.37c Gathering of Manna ADD Fig.D.37d Last Supper Pen and brown ink and gray-brown wash, heightened with transparent and opaque white over traces of black chalk, on light dull gray-green prepared paper, 46.3 x 33.8; laid down; wm?.\u00a0 The drawing is rubbed in places and appears […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":820,"menu_order":40,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2197","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2197","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=2197"}],"version-history":[{"count":16,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11106,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2197\/revisions\/11106"}],"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=2197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}