Page 78 - Pierre Durand Collection Including Chinese Art and Porcelain Sothebys Jan 27 2022

93
BARTOLOMEO PASSAROTTI (BOLOGNA 1529-1592 ROME)
The head of the Virgin with the Annunciation
signed ‘BPassarotto. F.’ (‘BP’ in ligature) (lower right)
pen and brown ink, gray wash (added later)
18 x 14Ω in. (46 cm x 36.5 cm)
$20,000-30,000
PROVENANCE: This monumental sheet has a well-documented provenance from the
Egnazio Danti (1536-1586), Rome. time it was owned by the Domenican friar and polymath Egnazio Danti,
Probably Canons Regular of S. Salvatore, Bologna. who became acquaintances with Passarotti during his stay in Bologna
Probably Dominco Grossi, Bologna. between 1576 and 1580, when he lectured at the university on geometry and
August Grahl (1791-1868), Dresden (L. 1199).
Felix Becker (1864-1928), Leipzig. astronomy. At that time, in 1577, Passarotti painted an engaging portrait of
with R.E.A. Wilson, London (Catalogue of Drawings by Old Masters and Modern Danti in the act of teaching (Brest, Musée Municipal, inv. 981.14.1). As stated
Artists, 1934, no. 103, ill.) by Passarotti’s first biographer, Vincenzo Borghini, Danti owned the drawing,
Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, London, 25 March 1965, lot 59. together with its pendant with Christ wearing the crown of thorns, now in
Anonymous sale; Christie’s, New York, 30 January 1997, lot 14. the Princeton University Art Museum (inv. 1999-1; see Giles, Markey and
Van Cleave, op. cit., no. 43, ill.); Borghini describes the two heads as ‘finite
EXHIBITED: in tutta perfettione con la penna’ (op. cit.). It is not known if the drawings
Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, 500 Years of Italian Master
Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum, 2014 (no catalogue). were commissioned by Danti or if they were rather a gift from Passarotti to
his friend. It has been suggested that the two images were once drawn on a
LITERATURE: single large sheet, described by Borghini as a foglio imperiale (circa 50 x 74
V. Borghini, Il Riposo, Florence 1584, p. 566. cm), and only later cut in half (see Ghirardi, op. cit., 2007, p. 128).
C. C. Malvasia, Felsina pittrice, Bologna, 1678, II, p. 245.
A. Bolognini-Amorini, Vite dei pittori ed artefici bolognesi, Bologna, 1841-1845, The highly finished representation of the Virgin is an extraordinary example
I, p. 92. of disegno finito, a kind of independent drawing produced by Passarotti and
F. Becker, Handzeichnungen alter Meister in Privatsammlungen. Fünfzig bisher
nicht veröffentliche Originalzeichnungen des XV. bis XVIII Jahrhunderts, Leipzig, highly sought after by collectors’ in his own time (see Bohn, op. cit., pp. 52-
1922, p. 13, ill. 79). Next to the Virgin’s head are drawn two halves of a medallion with the
Dizionario enciclopedico Bolaffi dei pittori e degli incisori italiani dall’XI al XX scene of the Annunciation. Similar scenes inscribed within half medallions
secolo, Turin, 1975, VIII, p. 362. are seen in three largev sheets with profiles of Roman emperors now in the
M. Fanti, ‘Spigolature d’archivio per la storia dell’arte a Bologna’, Il Carrobbio, IV, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart (inv. 1346-1348; see Höper, op. cit., II, pp. 187-188,
1978, pp. 193-194. ill.). The inclusion of the medallion may be related to Passarotti’s interest in
M. Daly Davis, ‘Beyond the ‘Primo Libro’ of Vincenzo Dati’s Trattato delle Perfette antiquities, of which he was an avid collector.
Proporzioni’, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz, XXVI, 1982,
no. 1, p. 83, n. 101.
S. Brink, ‘Fra Egnazio Danti, das Programm der Sala Vecchia degli Svizzeri im
Vatikan und C. Ripas Iconologia’, Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in
Florenz, XXVII, 1983, no. 2, pp. 240-241.
C. Höper, Bartolomeo Passarotti (1529-1592), Worms, 1987, II, no. Z186.
A. Ghirardi, Bartolomeo Passerotti pittore (1529-1592). Catalogo generale, Rimini,
1990, no. 55b, ill.
F. A. den Broeder, Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Joseph F.
McCrindle, exhib. cat., Princeton, Princeton University Art Museum, and
elsewhere, 1991-1992, p. 46, under no. 14, ill.
B. Bohn, ‘Felsina collezionista. The creation of finished drawings in Sixteenth
Century Bologna’, Studi di Storia dell’Arte, V-VI, 1994-1995, p. 195.
S. Tumidei, ‘Alessandro Menganti e le arti a Bologna nella seconda metà
del Cinquecento. Alla ricerca di un contesto,’ in Il Michelangelo incognito.
Alessandro Menganti e le arti a Bologna nell’età della Controriforma, exhib. cat.,
Bologna, Museo civico medievale, 2002, p. 102.
F. Francesca, ‘Danti Edits Vignola. The Formation of a Modern Classic on
Perspective’, in The Treatise on Perspective. Published and Unpublished. Papers
Presented at the First Kress-Murphy Symposium Held at the National Gallery of
Art, Washington, D.C., and New Haven, 2003, p. 142.
A. Ghirardi, ‘Sotto il segno del Vignola. Bartolomeo Passerotti e Egnazio Danti
a Bologna’, in La percezione e la rappresentazione dello spazio a Bologna e in
Romagna nel Rinascimento fra teoria e prassi, Bologna, 2007, pp. 127-130, ill.
L. Giles in Italian Master Drawings from the Princeton University Art Museum,
Princeton, 2014, p. 105, under no. 43, ill.

76