{"id":2669,"date":"2011-12-14T16:47:47","date_gmt":"2011-12-14T20:47:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.vassar.edu\/rosso\/"},"modified":"2012-08-16T16:16:30","modified_gmt":"2012-08-16T20:16:30","slug":"d-70-the-martyrdom-of-sts-marcus-and-marcellinus","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/drawings\/d-70-the-martyrdom-of-sts-marcus-and-marcellinus\/","title":{"rendered":"D.70 Martyrdom of Sts. Marcus and Marcellinus"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

D.70 Martyrdom of Sts. Marcus and Marcellinus<\/p><\/div>\n

c. 1537<\/p>\n

Northampton, Smith College Museum of Art, no. 1959:32 TR 587.<\/p>\n

Fig.D.70a<\/a>
\nFig.D.70b<\/a> bw<\/p>\n

Red chalk over black chalk, the left saint modelled in a darker red chalk, 23.8 x 20.9 (with a margin at the top of 0.2 and at the left of 0.1), squared with a stylus, all of the squares, except the slightly larger outer ones, measuring 1.75; laid down; wm?.\u00a0 Inscribed on verso<\/em> of mount (from Siever, 2000, 36, 39, ns. 1 and 2): upper right corner, in blue ink: Dessin du Daniele Volterra Italie XVIe<\/sup><\/em> \/ Descente de Croix 10<\/em>; along upper edge at center, in black ink: M Angelo B t<\/em>; at upper right edge, in black ink: Daniele Volterra<\/em>; upper left, in black chalk: 77.1<\/em>; upper left, in ballpoint pen: 3:500 <\/em>\/ s<\/em> [illegible]; upper right, in blue fountain pen, crossed out in graphite: HC<\/em>; at upper center, in graphite, enclosed with a rectangle: No 36<\/em> [changed from 35<\/em>, the 5<\/em> erased and a 6<\/em> written in its place], the whole crossed out in graphite; upper left, in graphite: M<\/em>; lower center, in black chalk: 23<\/em>; and lower center, in black chalk: MAngelo Bti<\/sup><\/em>.<\/p>\n

PROVENANCE: (from Siever, 2000, as above): Dumarteau collection, Dijon (unconfirmed); {Walter Hugelshofer (1899-1987), Zurich}; to {F. Kleinberger & Co., Inc., New York}, May 1958, stock no. 1534 (as by Francesco Primaticcio); sold to SCMA in 1959 (as Scene of a Martrydom<\/em> by Francesco Primaticcio).<\/p>\n

Two notes relate that Dumarteau is also given as Demarteau and that Hugelshofer was an art historian, collector, and dealer.<\/p>\n

LITERATURE:<\/p>\n

Prache, 1961, 1-9, as by Primaticcio, strongly influenced by Rosso, the subject of the drawing identified as the Martyrdom of Sts. Cosmos and Damian.<\/p>\n

Anxiety and Elegance<\/em>, 1962, 10, no. 29, as Primaticcio(?).<\/p>\n

McAllister Johnson, 1966, 255, a Primaticcio working in the manner of Rosso.<\/p>\n

B\u00e9guin, R\u00e9vue du Louvre<\/em>, 1969, 151, n. 32, as Rosso, from his Italian years, and as close to his St. Roch Distributing His Inheritance to the Poor<\/em>, in the Louvre, and to the two copies of the related drawings also in the Louvre.<\/p>\n

Campbell, in RISD, 1973, 56, no. 62, as Rosso, and done in 1535 or 1536, the subject being the Martyrdom of Sts. Marcus and Marcellinus (the last two points suggested by me).<\/p>\n

Edmund Pillsbury, review of RISD, 1973 exh., The Print Collector\u2019s Newsletter<\/em>, IV, 2, 1973, 35, as Rosso.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1975, 22-23, Fig. 7, 23, as Rosso, and done about the same time as the Death of Adonis <\/em>in the Gallery of Francis I.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1978, 25, 29, Fig. 8, 31, 34, as Rosso, c. 1536-1538.<\/p>\n

Carroll, 1987, 11, 31, 32, 306-308, no, 98, with Color Pl., as Rosso, c. 1537.<\/p>\n

Franklin, 1988, 325, the legs and torso of the saint recalling those of Michelangelo\u2019s Haman.<\/p>\n

Miller, 1992, 111, commented on the use of black chalk as an underdrawing.<\/p>\n

Siever, 2000, 36, 37, (Color Pl.), 38-39, the most extensive consideration of the drawing, as by Rosso, c. 1537, and as possibly commissioned by Cardinal Jean de Lorraine for the royal abbey of Saint-M\u00e9dard in Soissons with relics of St. Sebastian and also of Sts. Marcus and Marcellinus.1<\/sup><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Two notes in the files of the museum indicate that in 1959, Panofsky, who suggested the Cosmos and Damian subject, doubted the attribution to Primaticcio, and in 1968, Professor J.Q. van Regteren Altena thought it was by Rosso.\u00a0 This attribution is certainly correct, as a comparison of this drawing with Rosso\u2019s St. Roch Distributing His Inheritance to the Poor<\/em> of around 1524 (Fig.D.13<\/a>), and with his Madonna della Misericordia<\/em> of 1529 (Fig.D.35a<\/a>), so clearly indicates.\u00a0 Graphically, all three drawings show the same fine contours and subtle shading in red chalk.\u00a0 But the draughtsmanship of the Martyrdom <\/em>drawing is closer to that of the drawing of 1529 in the almost total dissolution of form by the most subtly rendered fluctuations of light and shadow throughout both scenes.\u00a0 Like that drawing, the Martyrdom<\/em> is also executed in red chalk over very fine outlines in black chalk.<\/p>\n

Although the Martyrdom<\/em> compositionally reflects the structure of the St. Roch Distributing His Inheritance to the Poor<\/em> in showing a large foreground scene with another small one set in architecture further back in an upper corner, in terms of their drama, these two drawings do not appear to have been done at the same time.\u00a0 The emotional fervor of the former is more like that of the later Madonna della Misericordia<\/em>.\u00a0 But the excitement of the Martyrdom<\/em> and the complexity of the poses and interrelationships of its figures are closer to those of Rosso\u2019s Enlightenment of Francis I <\/em>in the gallery at Fontainebleau (Fig.P.22, VII S a<\/a>), designed probably in 1535 or 1536, a composition that also has a large foreground scene and a smaller one with an architectural setting in the background.\u00a0 The intensity of the drama of the drawing comes even closer to that of the Scene of Sacrifice<\/em> in the gallery, designed, it would seem, between August and November 1536 (Fig.P.22, VII N a<\/a>).\u00a0 There is, however, a quality of resolution in the composition and drama of the Martyrdom<\/em>, a resolution of the conflict between physical activity and highly charged feeling that is seen in the Scene of Sacrifice<\/em>, suggesting that the drawing was done after, if not too long after, that fresco in the gallery.\u00a0 For this reason it is possible that the drawing was done around 1537.2<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0 It appears somewhat less clarified in its style and emotional focus than Rosso\u2019s Piet\u00e0<\/em> in the Louvre (Fig.P.23a<\/a>) of around 1538, or than those works by him that can be assigned to the last period of his activity in the years 1538-1540.<\/p>\n

The subject of the drawing is narrated in The Golden Legend<\/em> in the account of St. Sebastian (see Chapter IX).<\/p>\n

COPY, DRAWING: Frankfurt am Main, St\u00e4del Museum, Department of Prints and Drawings, inv. no. Z425, attributed to Daniele da Volterra (Fig.D.70 Copy, Frankfurt<\/a>). \u00a0Red chalk, with red brushwork (probably dissolved red chalk), 23.2 x 19.7.\u00a0 PROVENANCE: Acquired in 1847 as \u201cDaniele da Volterra\u201d from the Verstolk van Soelen sale, Amsterdam.\u00a0 A note on the mount gives John Gere\u2019s opinion that the drawing is not by Daniele da Volterra.\u00a0 A probably earlier note states: \u201cS. Marcello al Corso?\u201d\u00a0 The drawing was brought to my attention by David Franklin.\u00a0 I wish to thank Dr. Martin Sonnabend, Head of Prints and Drawings before 1750 at the St\u00e4del Museum, for information on this drawing.\u00a0 Dr. Sonnabend added that the technique of the drawing may be a clue that identifies the draughtsman, who cannot be excluded as a northern artist but this may not necessarily be the case.\u00a0 LITERATURE: Franklin, 1988, 326, under no. 98.\u00a0 Siever, 2000, adds to Franklin\u2019s opinion that the copy is by \u201ca seventeenth century northern artist\u201d the information that it has French inscriptions on the verso<\/em>.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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<\/a>1<\/sup> On the relation of the Cardinal and Saint-M\u00e9dard and the remission of payments for the abbey in 1537, see C\u00e9dric Michon, \u201cLes Richesses de la Faveur \u00e0 la Renaissance: Jean de Lorraine (1498-1550) et Fran\u00e7ois Ier<\/sup>,\u201d Revue d\u2019histoire moderne et contemporaine<\/em>, no. 50-3, 2003\/3, p. 46.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/a>2<\/sup> Siever, 2000, 38, points out that the inscriptions in French on the verso<\/em> of Rosso\u2019s drawing and on the copy in Frankfurt further indicate that Rosso\u2019s work was done in France. \u00a0 But Dr. Sonnabend wrote me that there are definitely no inscriptions on the verso<\/em> of the drawing seen with light through the sheet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

c. 1537 Northampton, Smith College Museum of Art, no. 1959:32 TR 587. Fig.D.70a Fig.D.70b bw Red chalk over black chalk, the left saint modelled in a darker red chalk, 23.8 x 20.9 (with a margin at the top of 0.2 and at the left of 0.1), squared with a stylus, all of the squares, except […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":820,"menu_order":74,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2669","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2669","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=2669"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2669\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6512,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2669\/revisions\/6512"}],"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=2669"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}