{"id":7767,"date":"2012-12-11T17:19:38","date_gmt":"2012-12-11T22:19:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/?page_id=7767"},"modified":"2015-07-28T14:39:58","modified_gmt":"2015-07-28T18:39:58","slug":"l-17","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/catalogues\/lost-works\/l-17\/","title":{"rendered":"L.17 Visitation with Mary Magdalen and King David"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spring, 1524<\/p>\n

Drawing made for Giovanni Antonio Lappoli, Arezzo.<\/p>\n

Vasari, 1568, III, 383 (Vasari-Milanesi, VI, 9), in the \u201cLife\u201d of Giovanni Antonio Lappoli<\/p>\n

\n

\u201cCessata finalmente alquanto la peste: Cipriano d\u2019Anghiani [Anghiari] huomo ricco in Arezzo, havendo fatta murare di que\u2019giorni nella Badia di santa Fiore in Arezzo una cappella con ornamenti, e colonne di pietra serena, allog\u00f2 la tavola a Giovan\u2019Antonio per prezzo di scudi cento.\u00a0 Passandro intanto per Arezzo il Rosso, che se n\u2019andara a Roma, e alloggiando con Giovan\u2019Antonio suo amicissimo, intesa l\u2019opera, che havera tolta a fare, gli fece, come volle il Lappoli, uno schizzetto, tutto d\u2019ignudi molto bello: per che messo Giovan\u2019Antonio mano all\u2019opera, imitando il disegno del Rosso, fece nella detta tavola la visitazione di S. Lisabetta, e nel mezzo tondo di sopra un Dio padre con certi putti, ritraendo i panni e tutto il resto di naturale.\u00a0 E condottola a fine ne fu molto lodato, e comendato; e massimamente per alcune teste ritratte di naturale, fatta con buona maniera, e molto utile.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This passage appears in Vasari\u2019s \u201cLife\u201d of Lappoli following upon the account of his return to Arezzo to escape the plague of 1523 in Florence.1<\/sup><\/a> \u00a0Rosso is most likely to have stopped in Arezzo in the spring of 1524 on his way to Rome.\u00a0 The painting was completed by 22 March 1525 (see Franklin, 1994, below).<\/p>\n

\"Fig.<\/a>

Fig. Lappoli, Visitation<\/p><\/div>\n

The Visitation<\/i> that Lappoli made from Rosso\u2019s drawing has always been identified with the altarpiece on the first altar at the right of the entrance of the Badia di Sante Flora e Lucilla in Arezzo (Fig.Lappoli, Visitation<\/i><\/a>\u00a0and Fig.Lappoli,Visitation,detail<\/a>)<\/em>.2<\/sup><\/a>\u00a0Compositionally the painting resembles Rosso\u2019s Sposalizio<\/i> of 1523 in San Lorenzo (Fig.P.13a<\/a>), but there are no direct figural similarities that would suggest that Lappoli used that painting independently as the inspiration for his altarpiece.\u00a0 Although the painting in the Badia is neither signed nor dated it is reasonable to assume that it is Lappoli\u2019s and the one that Vasari refers to, and this conclusion has been generally accepted (Barocchi, 1950, 73, n. 1, 243; Carroll, 1967, 297-299, 303, Fig. 1; Freedberg, 1971, 320; 1975, 464; Maetzke, in Giorgio Vasari<\/i>, 1981, 325, 326, no. 4 and under no. 5; and Fig. 238; Rudolph, 1982, 122; M.G. Sassoli, in Pittura. Cinquecento<\/i>, 1987, I, 362; Carroll, 1987, 21, 34, n. 55); Franklin, 1994, 105, 106, 107, Pl. 76, Rosso\u2019s \u201cnude sketches\u201d done probably early in 1524, the altarpiece completed by 22 March 1525, according to an unpublished document recording the assessment of it; Franklin states that the picture shows the Visitation with St. Joseph, the Magdalen, and King David; Casciu, 1994, 21, Fig. 21, 22, no. 4, the heads by Lappoli recalling those in Pontormo\u2019s Visitation<\/i> at the Annunziata in Florence; Costamagna, 1994, 321, under A 113; Haitovsky, 1994, 120, Fig. 13, as designed by Rosso in Arezzo in 1523.3<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n
\n\n
\"Lappoli,<\/a>

Lappoli, Visitation, detail<\/p><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n

Vasari says that the drawing that Rosso made for Lappoli was a small sketch of nude figures from which the Aretine painter executed his altarpiece, adding himself the draperies and all else, including some of the heads, studied from nature.\u00a0 Although there is no surviving compositional sketch of this kind by Rosso, Vasari\u2019s report can be believed as it is very likely that he had actually seen the drawing in Arezzo.\u00a0 The soft draperies in Lappoli\u2019s painting are quite unlike the faceted folds in Rosso\u2019s paintings and would be Lappoli\u2019s additions, although it is possible that Rosso gave various headdresses to his nude figures.4<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

From Vasari\u2019s remarks it is not clear if Rosso included in his drawing the God the Father with angels that Lappoli executed in the now lost lunette that once was above his altarpiece.\u00a0 He may not have, leaving the design of that part to Lappoli as later a lunette by Raffaellino del Colle surmounted Rosso\u2019s Piet\u00e0<\/i> in Borgo Sansepolcro (P.19<\/a>).\u00a0 Lappoli\u2019s painting in the Badia is rectangular in shape; the upper fourth of it is occupied only by architecture.\u00a0 It is possible that Rosso\u2019s drawing showed the scene to just above the level of the figures\u2019 heads.\u00a0 This would be more in keeping with what appears in the Sposalizio<\/i> and in the Dei Altarpiece.5<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n

Behind the Virgin are six figures (Fig.Lappoli, Visitation<\/i>, detail<\/a>). The two foremost men may be the portraits by Lappoli that Vasari says were highly praised. The man wearing the red hat and shirt with a lace collar is probably Cipriano d\u2019Anghiari, who commissioned the picture (Fig.Visitation, <\/em>Cipriano)<\/span>. \u00a0To the left of him the old man with a halo would be Zacharius. The other four in shadow may also be portraits, the first and third women, the other two bearded men. Farther back behind Zacharias and Cipriano may be other heads peering in from doorways.<\/p>\n

\n\n\n\n
\"Lappoli,<\/a><\/td>\n\"COPYLappoli-Visitation-detail<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/div>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
<\/a>1<\/sup> Vasari relates this story after mentioning Perino\u2019s flight to Florence from the plague in Rome in 1523.\u00a0 This, however, seems to have occurred in 1522, with his flight back to Rome from the plague in Florence taking place the next year at the same time that Lappoli returned to Arezzo (on Perino\u2019s activity, see Davidson, 1966, 4, 10, under no. 10).<\/div>\n
\n

<\/a>2<\/sup> Brizi, 1838, 105.\u00a0 The Biblioteca della Citt\u00e0 di Arezzo has manuscript references to this altarpiece, some of which could date earlier, but these may be wholly based on Vasari\u2019s remarks rather than upon actual knowledge of the painting itself (as is also almost certainly the case with Albergotti\u2019s mid-nineteenth century comments mentioned in Carroll, 1967, 297, n. 5).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/a>3<\/sup> Salmi, 1971, 135, n. 24, recognized the painting as Lappoli\u2019s but made no mention of Rosso.\u00a0 Instead he saw the painting as derived from Pontormo\u2019s painting at Carmignano.\u00a0 As this painting dates later it is possible that Salmi meant Pontormo\u2019s Visitation<\/i> at SS. Annunziata, which resembles Lappoli\u2019s painting to the extent that it shows the central theme at the top of a small flight of steps.\u00a0 Otherwise it resembles Rosso\u2019s Sposalizio<\/i> more, which also has a flight of stairs, but also, as in Lappoli\u2019s painting, a dark building in the background that recedes in planes parallel to the picture plane, and two figures in the foreground that are additions to the narrative.\u00a0 Vasari states that after the completion of the Visitation<\/i> and after the plague had passed in Rome Lappoli left for Rome to which Perino and Rosso had already returned.\u00a0 In the summer of 1524 Rosso was in Cerveteri to escape the plague (see Cellini-Ferrero, 1971, 121-122), but was back in Rome in the autumn to work on the Cesi Chapel commission (see P.17<\/a>).\u00a0 Hence, Lappoli could have gone to Rome late in 1524 when the Visitation<\/i> was completed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/a>4<\/sup> Maetzke, in Giorgio Vasari<\/i>, 1981, 326, states that the picture so closely resembles Rosso\u2019s Sposalizio<\/i> that Rosso must also have given Lappoli a finished drawing for the composition.\u00a0 But Lappoli could have studied Rosso\u2019s painting in Florence before the time that Rosso came to Arezzo.\u00a0 The open book with a text recalls the book held by St. Apollonia in the Sposalizio<\/i> although its text is not legible except for Rosso\u2019s name.\u00a0 On a nude figure with a somewhat elaborate coiffure of beads and ribbons, see Rosso\u2019s Standing Nude Woman<\/i> (Fig.D.5<\/a>).\u00a0 On the Visitation<\/i> see also Forlani Tempesti, 1992, 94, 97, Fig. 10.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

<\/a>5<\/sup> According to Maetzke, see above, the painting, oil on panel, measures 310 x 222; I measured it as 247 wide (sight).\u00a0 The varnish of the upper fourth of the painting has become blanched.\u00a0 The two texts inscribed on the left page of the open book held by King David are: IVSTITIA ANTE \/ EVM. AMBVLA[BI]T \/ ET PONET. IN VIA [GR] \/ ESSV. SVOS, of Vulgate Psalm 84:14 (Justice shall walk before him: and shall set his steps in the way); and: ILLVC. PRODUCAM. \/ CORNV. DAVID [PA] \/ RAVILUCERNAM \/ CRISTO. MEO, of Vulgate Psalm 131:17 (There I will bring forth a horn to David: I have prepared a lamp for my anointed).\u00a0 Lappoli\u2019s lunette would have occupied an area that probably was separated from the Visitation<\/i> by a horizontal moulding of the frame that surrounded and joined the two parts of this altarpiece.\u00a0 I have wondered if the blanched upper part of the present altarpiece is an addition replacing the area where the lost lunette would have been.\u00a0 The chapel that Cipriano d\u2019Anghiari had built no longer exists and may have been destroyed when Vasari enlarged the Badia in the middle of the sixteenth century.\u00a0 It is not known when the lunette disappeared.<\/p>\n

A drawing related to Lappoli\u2019s Visitation<\/i> is the Meeting at the Golden Gate<\/i>, Uffizi 6470F (Fig.Florence, 6470F<\/a>), inscribed in ink at the lower right: Rosso darezzo<\/i> (pen and ink and wash over traces of black chalk, 28.2 x 21.5; the verso<\/i> is lightly and evenly blackened with chalk).\u00a0 LITERATURE: Berenson, 1903, no. 2404, as Rosso.\u00a0 Kusenberg, 1931, 152, no. 5, as not by Rosso.\u00a0 Berenson, 1938, no. 2404, as not by Rosso.\u00a0 Barocchi, 1950, 221, as possibly by Salviati.\u00a0 Cheney, 1963, 572, as a drawing that has been attributed to Salviati.\u00a0 Carroll, 1967, 299, n. 11, Fig. 4, as perhaps by Lappoli, and as derived from Lappoli\u2019s Visitation<\/i>, or from Rosso\u2019s drawing for it, or from another drawing that Rosso brought to or made in Arezzo in 1524.\u00a0 Mortari, 1992, 190, no. 112, with Fig., as possibly a copy after Rosso. Franklin, 1994, 249, Pl. 198, as a copy after Rosso, presumably by some local Aretine artist, of a drawing by Rosso that may have been for a scene on the vault of S. Maria delle Lagrime [see Preface to D.31-34<\/a>].<\/p>\n

It still seems to me that the drawing could be by Lappoli, who as a draughtsman we know very little, and derived from his Visitation<\/i> or from another drawing by Rosso.\u00a0 But it would need further evidence to make it meaningful in a consideration of Rosso\u2019s art.\u00a0 Forlani Tempesti, 1992, 97-98, 101, n. 17, Fig. 9, as not by Lappoli, although by a follower of Rosso; she also pointed out that the collector\u2019s mark (Lugt 2712) on the drawing does not indicate a provenance from the collection of Cardinal Leopoldo de\u2019Medici but instead from a somewhat later collection.\u00a0 I see no reason to connect this drawing to the Lagrime project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spring, 1524 Drawing made for Giovanni Antonio Lappoli, Arezzo. Vasari, 1568, III, 383 (Vasari-Milanesi, VI, 9), in the \u201cLife\u201d of Giovanni Antonio Lappoli \u201cCessata finalmente alquanto la peste: Cipriano d\u2019Anghiani [Anghiari] huomo ricco in Arezzo, havendo fatta murare di que\u2019giorni nella Badia di santa Fiore in Arezzo una cappella con ornamenti, e colonne di pietra […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"parent":826,"menu_order":20,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-7767","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7767","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=7767"}],"version-history":[{"count":18,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7767\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11462,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/7767\/revisions\/11462"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pages.vassar.edu\/rosso\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}