Florentine baroque drawings at the Fogg Museum of Art: new attributions

Florentine baroque art attracted relatively little scholarly attention until the last quarter of the twentieth century. (1) As a result, many of the period's most popular and prolific painters and draughtsmen, praised in the seventeenth century by Filippo Baldinucci, are known today through only a handful of works. (2) Recent new or revised attributions of a number of drawings at the Fogg Museum provide important additions to the corpuses of several Florentine baroque artists, including Fabrizio Boschi, Agostino Ciampelli, Giovan Battista Vanni, Pietro Dandini and Agostino Melissi. These sheets, all but one of which are published here for the first time, testify to the range of styles that characterised Florentine draughtsmanship during these years, and to the close relationship that existed between style and function.

The number of Florentine baroque drawings at the Fogg Museum has increased significantly since 1940, when Agnes Mongan and Paul Sachs noted only thirteen sheets by Florentine baroque artists in their catalogue of the collection. (3) The museum acquired additional Florentine baroque drawings over the following decades, although many have remained mis- or unidentified, and relatively few have appeared in the literature. A 1988 volume of highlights from the collection, The Famous Italian Drawings at the Fogg Museum of Art in Cambridge, featured only four: one sheet each by Francesco Furini and Andrea Boscoli, and two by Cigoli. (4) By that time, however, the collection had grown considerably, and included works by Giovanni Balducci (il Cosci), Giovanni da San Giovanni, Giovanni Biliverti, Cecco Bravo, Volterrano, Stefano della Bella, Carlo Dolci, and other important Florentine artists. (5)

Among the new attributions at the Fogg are a number of figure studies. One of these studies, in red chalk, shows a standing man in a brimmed hat who faces left with his head slightly lowered and hands folded at the waist (Fig. 1); the verso, also in red chalk, features a pair of legs in high leather boots crossed at the ankles (Fig. 2). (6) The sheet has been catalogued as Giovanni da San Giovanni since its acquisition in 1932, but should be regarded as the work of Fabrizio Boschi (1572-1642). Boschi's name appears in small letters on the verso, in the same seventeenth-or eighteenth-century hand that inscribed his name on a drawing in the Albertina. (7) The inscription was not recorded by Agnes Mongan and Paul Sachs in their 1940 catalogue, an understandable oversight given Boschi's relative obscurity in the early twentieth century. (8) His identity as a draughtsman remained elusive until the 1960s, when Anna Rosa Masetti and Christel Thiem connected several sheets with his paintings and frescoes. (9) Boschi, who trained with Passignano in the late 1580s, is known today principally to specialists, but he enjoyed a considerable degree of popularity in the early seicento. His commissions included frescoes in S Marco, S Trinita, and the Casino Mediceo; oil paintings in the Palazzo Pitti and the Casa Buonarroti; and numerous altarpieces in and around Florence. (10)

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Boschi's authorship is supported by stylistic affinities with drawings like the red-and-black-chalk Study of an archer at the Pierpont Morgan Library (Fig. 3), which is preparatory to his Martyrdom of St Sebastian in Santa Felicita, Florence. (11) In both drawings the artist begins with a relatively light sketch and reinforces essential lines with firmer strokes, most noticeable in the arm and drapery of the Archer and the sleeve and legs of the Fogg Standing man. Volumes are defined with fluid contour lines and zig-zagging or parallel hatchings. A particularly distinctive aspect of Boschi's draughtsmanship emerges in the hands, where quick, sharp loops serve as a shorthand notation for bent fingers. Further evidence for Boschi's authorship comes from his Study of an Oriental prince in the Uffizi (Fig. 4), which relates to a fresco Boschi painted in the Casino Mediceo, Florence. (12) The manner of shading, the depiction of facial features, and the summary treatment of hands suggest that the same artist was responsible for both the Fogg and Uffizi sheets. Efforts to connect the Fogg sheet to a surviving painting or fresco by Boschi have been unsuccessful, although the brimmed hat of the figure on the recto and the high boots on the verso suggest shepherds in an Adoration scene. (13) Given that Boschi painted the St Sebastian altarpiece in 1617 and the Casino Mediceo frescoes in 1622, a date of c. 1620 seems reasonable for the Fogg drawing. (14)

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The Standing man is less finished than many other figure drawings by Boschi, and perhaps not entirely successful. There is a certain awkwardness around the area of the thighs where the line of the drapery, descending from the figure's left wrist, merges with that of the right leg, the one farthest from the viewer, causing it to appear to be in front of the left. Drapery seems to be the artist's chief concern, although its design is unresolved. The long cape that falls behind the figure, for example, has no discernible connection to the rest of his attire and appears to have been crossed out with a long, zig-zagging stroke that resembles shading. These hesitations and corrections point to a preliminary study for a figure whose pose and costume undoubtedly went through further revisions. The figure's general placement within the composition already seems to have been determined, however. This is suggested by the word inscribed in black chalk that appears on both recto and verso. While not entirely legible, it appears to be 'dietro', meaning 'behind', or 'drito' (usually spelled 'dritto'), one of whose meanings is 'on the right-hand side'.

The pronounced linearity of Boschi's drawing stands in sharp contrast to the more atmospheric quality of the Standing man wearing a turban by Agostino Ciampelli (1565 1630), which until recently carried an attribution to Federico Zuccaro (Fig. 5). (15) Stylistically, the drawing is very close to the Man seated in an armchair in the Uffizi (Fig. 6), which Christel Thiem connected with Ciampelli's lost Marriage at Cana painting from the early 1590s. (16) In both cases Ciampelli used black chalk for contours and shading, white chalk for highlights, and rather coarse blue paper for a midrange value that serves to integrate the figure into the surrounding space. Lines are often bold and thick, and the tight, even hatching sometimes dissolves in to smooth gradations of shadow. Ciampelli's fondness for combining black and white chalks on blue paper probably derives from his experience in the workshop of Santi di Tito, to whom some of his drawings have been misattributed. (27)

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Despite their stylistic differences, the drawings by Boschi and Ciampelli in the Fogg's collection served similar functions. In each case the figure's costume, especially the headgear, indicates that the artist had a certain type or character in mind, which in turn suggests a study for a particular painting or fresco. Visible alterations in the positioning of the feet in the Standing man wearing a turban lend credence to the notion that this is a preparatory study. The drawing does not, however, relate to any of the artist's known works, although similar bearded, turbaned figures appear in a number of his paintings and frescoes of Old Testament subjects from the 1590s, most notably the frescoes depicting the Story of Esther in the Palazzo Corsi, Florence. (18)

While the drawings of standing men by Boschi and Ciampelli seem to be preparatory to specific paintings or frescoes, other figure studies in the Fogg were made as independent, academic exercises. Baldinucci called attention to the popularity of this practice in late cinquecento and seicento Florence, observing that young artists would gather in the studios of Gregorio Pagani, Cigoli, Passignano, and others to sketch live models as a means of honing their skills as draughtsmen and achieving greater facility in representing the human figure. (19) This didactic function tended to diminish many characteristics of individual style. Several sheets in the Fogg's collection fall into this category, notably a Standing man by an artist close to Matteo Rosselli (Fig. 7). (20) A sheet in the Palais des Beaux-Arts in Lille (Fig. 8), given to Jacopo Confortini (1602-72), appears to be by the same hand, and even to represent the same model, as the Fogg's sheet. (21) Its status as an academic exercise makes any attribution problematic, however. (22) While Confortini's authorship should not be ruled out, it seems prudent to leave open the possibility that the drawing was made by another artist in the circle of Rosselli. (23)

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The Fogg's Standing nude youth with staff (Fig. 9) provides another example of a drawing made primarily as an academic exercise, although its distinctive style rescues it from anonymity. (24) One of a large group of drawings recently bequeathed to the Fogg by Paul Haldeman, the Standing nude youth compares favourably with other, similar studies by Pietro Dandini (1646-1712), a prolific Florentine painter who found inspiration in the work of Pietro da Cortona and Luca Giordano. (25) His frescoes adorn the walls or ceilings of a number of important buildings in and around Florence, including the Pitti Palace, the Corsini Palace, and the Medicean Villa Petraia. (26) The Fogg drawing cannot be connected to any known work by Dandini, but in view of its didactic function, this is not surprising. Comparison with sheets like the Nude man in the Louvre (Fig. 10), which was assigned to Dandini by his contemporary Baldinucci, leave little doubt about its authorship. (27) The Louvre sheet, also in red chalk and approximately the same size as the one in the Fogg, shows a nude young man drawn with a similarly rippling contour line and shaded with precise, parallel strokes. Both figures, moreover, are of the same anatomical type, inspired by the Roman works of Pietro da Cortona: slightly stocky physique, broad chest, pronounced musculature, and large, almost club-like feet. (28) Dandini's Standing nude youth testifies to the immediacy of observation and careful articulation of form that continued to characterise drawings by Florentine artists even when their work was strongly informed by artistic developments happening outside the city.

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In addition to figure studies, the group of newly attributed Florentine baroque drawings also includes compositional studies, including the Lute-playing angel in the clouds with putti, formerly given to Cecco Bravo (Fig. 11). It can now be assigned to Giovan Battista Vanni (1599-1660), an artist whose exceptional skill as a draughtsman was touted by Baldinu-cci. (29) Like many other successful Florentine painters, including Giovanni da San Giovanni and Volterrano, Vanni spent time in the workshop of Matteo Rosselli, and his drawings have often been confused with those of other artists who trained or worked with that master. Uncertainty regarding Vanni's authorship of a number of drawings has been augmented by a stylistic eclecticism noted by Baldinucci and reaffirmed by Annamaria Petrioli Tofani and Francesca Baldassari. (30) Vanni's manner of handling chalks varied significantly according to the function of the drawings in question, from the precise, soft strokes that characterise his several copies after earlier masters to the fresh ness and dexterity of his sketches for paintings.

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Among Vanni's drawings made for similar purposes, however, there is a good deal of stylistic consistency, and this is certainly the case with his preparatory studies. The Fogg's Lute-playing angel, which has additional studies of an angel and two putti on the verso, cannot be connected with any of Vanni's known paintings or frescoes, but the figures represented recall similar ones in a number of his works, including the angels in the upper register of his Feast in the House of Simon fresco (1645) in the refectory of S Maria del Carmine, Florence. (31) The draughtsmanship is typical of Vanni's preparatory studies. The angular lines of the drapery reappear in the red and black chalk Judith and her maidservant with the head of Holofernes in the Uffizi (Fig. 12); (32) the morphology of the face recalls that of the figures in the Uffizi Judith and the Study for the Virgin in the Clouds in the same collection (Fig. 13); (33) and one finds a similar use of sharp points as a short hand notation for fingers in the St Eugenius Reviving a Corpse in the Marucelliana. (34) Without a connection to a documented work, the drawing is difficult to date precisely. But the draughtsmanship, which exhibits similarities with the Uffizi Virgin in the Clouds of 1650, and the figural type, which is close to the angels in the Carmine fresco of 1645, suggest that the drawing was made during this period.

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Compositional studies also appear on another Florentine baroque drawing at the Fogg which has remained unattributed since its accession in 1964 (Figs. 14 and 15). It can now be given to Agostino Melissi (1616?-83), an artist who entered the studio of Giovanni Bilivert in 1634 after several years spent training with Matteo Rosselli. (35) Despite Baldinucci's claim that Melissi made a great number of works for patrons both in and outside the city of Florence, very few paintings by him are known today. (36) Among his most important commissions were designs for Medici tapestries, and several of these have survived. (37)

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The Melissi sheet is covered on both sides with small, quick sketches of figures and compositions in black or red chalk. Drawings of this type were common among many Florentine artists, notably Cigoli and his students Andrea Commodi and Giovanni Bilivert, who must have inspired Melissi to take up the practice. Very similar primi pensieri appear on a sheet at the Musee des Beaux-Arts at Rennes (Fig. 16), (38) which Catherine Monbeig-Goguel assigned to Melissi on the basis of affinities with a tapestry design at the Musee Bonnat, Bayonne. (39) The figures in the Rennes and Cambridge sheets exhibit the same distinctive angularity and are distributed across the surface of the paper in the same manner. In all three drawings, moreover, the artist employs the same shorthand notations for hands and feet.

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While the compositions on the recto are relatively easy to decipher--the two at the upper left seem to be studies for a Creation of Eve, and the other two clearly represent the Madonna and Child--the sketches on the verso (Fig. 15) do not evoke a particular subject. The kneeling, sitting and gesturing figures might relate to one of Melissi's tapestry designs, many of which depict historical, ceremonial events. The pose of the figure in the centre, for example, is generally consistent with that of a kneeling courtier, while the group of three at the left could be part of an entourage or audience. Another explanation, which would account for all of the figures, is that the three on the left represent Christ flanked by disciples, responding to a kneeling mother who begs for the healing of her paralytic son (the semi reclining figure on the lower half of the sheet).

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The difficulty one encounters in trying to connect drawings like the Melissi, which is clearly preparatory in nature, to known works of art is symptomatic of our limited understanding of the careers of many Florentine baroque artists. Only thirty-five paintings and frescoes by Fabrizio Boschi, for example, were known to Giuseppe Cantelli when he compiled his Repertorio della pittura fiorentina del Seicento, published in 1983; he listed even fewer (thirteen) by Giovan Battista Vanni. (40) Agostino Ciampelli's paintings remained, 'to a large extent, still undiscovered' according to Christel Thiem in 1972. (41) And the dearth of works by Agostino Melissi earned him the reputation of 'a painter without paintings' well into the second half of the twentieth century. (42) In light of the relatively small oeuvres of many Florentine baroque painters, the Fogg's newly attributed drawings take on added significance. Not only do they provide insight into the preparatory processes of important seicento artists, but they also offer clues that might facilitate the attributions of additional paintings, frescoes, and tapestries.

Even before the reattribution of the drawings discussed above, now given to Fabrizio Boschi, Agostino Ciampelli, Giovan Battista Vanni, Pietro Dandini and Agostino Melissi, Florentine draughtsmanship was fairly well represented at the Fogg. The museum already had in its collection several sheets by the first generation of Florentine post-mannerist artists, including Andrea Boscoli, Santi di Tito, Cigoli, and Bernardino Poccetti, who came of age in the second half of the cinquecento and strove for greater fidelity and directness in representing the natural world. The drawings newly attributed to Boschi and Ciampelli, along with others in the Fogg's collection by Matteo Rosselli and Giovanni Bilivert (as well as Bilivert's follower Agostino Melissi), provide excellent examples from the next generation of Florentine draughtsmen, who remained committed to carefully planned compositions and analytical studies after the live model while showing a growing interest in textural and atmospheric effects. The continuing importance of these ideals can be observed in drawings by slightly later artists, born around or shortly after 1600, such as Giovan Battista Vanni. (43) With these new attributions, the collection of drawings at the Fogg provides a much more comprehensive picture of draughtsmanship in late cinquecento and seicento Florence.

I would like to thank Morton Abromson, Roberto Contini, Catherine Monbeig-Goguel, Joan Nissman, and William Robinson, all of whom have been very generous with their comments and opinions.

(1) For more on the critical fortunes of Florentine baroque art, see M. Chappell, 'Renascence of the Florentine Baroque', Dialoghi di storia dell' arte, vol. VII, 1988, pp. 56-89.

(2) F. Baldinucci, Notizie de' professori del disegno (originally published 1681-1728), in D.M. Manni (ed.), Opere di Baldinucci, 14 vols., Milan, 1812, vols. IV-XIV.

(3) A. Mongan and P. Sachs, Drawings in the Fogg Museum of Art, 3 vols., Cambridge, Mass., 1940; several of these drawings would later be reassigned to artists from other regions.

(4) A. Mongan, K. Oherhuber and J. Bober, The Famous Italian Drawings at the Fogg Museum of Art in Cambridge, Milan, 1988, nos, 46 (Boscoli), 48 and 49 (Cigoli), and 60 (Furini).

(5) For example: Giovanni Balducci (il Cosci), St John the Baptist Preaching, black chalk, pen and brown wash on antique laid paper, squared in black chalk, 27.5 x 33.5 cm, no. 1969.113 (see Mongan, Oberhuber and Bober, op. cit., p. 51, fig. 35); Giovanni Manozzi (called Giovanni da San Giovanni), Study for Senator Girolamo Novelli giving alms, black, red and white chalks on faded blue paper, 40.8 x 25.8 cm, no. 1932.214 (see O.H. Giglioli, Giovanni di San Giovanni, Florence, 1949, pp. 21-22); Giovanni Bilivert, St Francis in Ecstasy, black and red chalks, 34 x 23.5 cm, no. 1976.56 (see R. Contini, Bilivert, Florence, 1985, pp. 44, 108, and 114, and fig. 72); Francesco Montelatici, called Cecco Bravo, Four Saints, red and black chalks on cream antique laid paper, remains of old backing paper on lower left corner and a few other places, 27.4 x 21 cm., no. 1932.221 (see A.R. Masetti, Cecco Bravo pittore toscano del seicento, Venice, 1962, no. 24, p. 110 and fig. 80); and Baldassare Franceschini, called il Volterrano, Standing nude boy, red chalk on off-white antique laid paper, 24.3 x 13.7 cm., no. 1932.236 (see Mongan and Sachs, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 149-50, no. 303).

(6) Bequest of Charles A. Loeser, no. 1932.213; inscribed on the recto at lower left and on the recto just left of centre in black chalk, 'dreto' (?); on the recto at lower right in blue (chalk?), '10'; and on the verso at upper right in graphite, 'Boschi'. Previously unpublished.

(7) Albertina, Vienna, no. 815: Fabrizio Boschi, Striding youth seen from behind, red chalk on brownish paper, 40.4 x 26.2 cm; inscribed lower left, in ink: 'di fabbrissio Boschi'. See V. Birke and J. Kertesz, Die Italienischen Zeichnungen der Albertina: Generalverzeichnis, Vienna, 1992-1997, vol. I, pp. 425 26, illustrated.

(8) Mongan and Sachs, op. cit., vol. I, pp. 134-35.

(9) A.R. Masetti, 'Il Casino Mediceo e la pittura fiorentina del Seicento', Critica d'arte, vol. IX, no. 50, 1962, pp. 1-27; C. Thiem, 'Fabrizio Boschi and Matteo Rosselli: Drawings Relating to the Theme of the Martyrdom of St. Sebastian', Master Drawings, vol. VII, 1969, pp. 148-51.

(10) For more on Boschi's drawings and career, see Laura Lucchesi in Il Seicento Fiorentino, 3 vols., exh. cat., Palazzo Pitti, Florence, 1986, vol. II, pp. 161-65, and vol. III, pp. 37-40; and R. Spinelli, 'Di un disperse "Martirio di Sant'Andrea" di Fabrizio Boschi ritrovato (e nuovamente scomparso)', Mitteilungen des Kunsthistorischen Instituts in Florenz, vol. XLV, nos. 1-2, 2001, pp. 313-18.

(11) Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, no. 1974.29: red and black chalks, 30 x 21 cm. See Thiem, op. cit., p. 149, plate 23.

(12) Uffizi, Florence, no. 9435F: Study for an oriental prince, black chalk on grey paper, 31 x 21 cm. For more on this drawing and its relationship to the Casino Mediceo frescoes, see Masetti, op. cit., pp. 6-10.

(13) Baldinucci, op. cit., vol. x, pp. 141-63, does not list an Adoration of the Shepherds among Boschi's works, although it is difficult to imagine he was not called upon to paint this subject at some point in his career. The drawing of legs in buskins on the verso of the Fogg sheet compares favourably in style to Boschi's red chalk Standing figure in the Uffizi (no. 9443F), where legs in high boots are depicted in a similar manner; see Spinelli, op. cit., p. 316, fig. 4.

(14) Thiem's dating of the S Felicita altarpiece to the early 1620s (Thiem, op. cit., p. 149) was made on stylistic grounds, without the benefit of the documentary evidence cited by Lucchesi in 1986 (Lucchesi, op. cit., p. 39).

(15) No. 1965.391. See Mongan, Oberhuber and Bober, op. cit., p. 40, fig. 37 (as Federico Zuccaro). Ciampelli's authorship was first recognized by N. Turner and C. Monbeig-Goguel (notes in curatorial files).

(16) Uffizi, Florence, no. 7897F: black and white chalks on blue paper, 29.4 x 20.5 cm. The general appearance of the lost Marriage at Cana is known through a cam positional study at the Louvre (no. 1.057). For more on the Uffizi Man seated, see C. Thiem, Florentiner Zeichner des Fruhbarock, Munich, 1977, p. 310. For more on the Louvre compositional study see idem, 'The Florentine Agostino Ciampelli as Draughtsman',

Master Drawings, vol. IX, no, 4, 1971, pp. 359-63. Ciampelli's Study for Joachim (Uffizi, Florence, no. 7178F: black and white chalks on blue paper, 20.9 x 19.1 cm) also compares favourably with the Fogg drawing and might even depict the same model; see idem, ibid., plate 3b.

(17) For more on Ciampelli's early drawings, see S. Valenti Prosperi, "Ancora su Agostino Ciampelli disegnatore', Antichita Viva, vol. xII, no. 2, 1973, pp. 6-17. Ciampelli drawings formerly attributed to Santi di Tito include the Kneeling servant at the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, no. 360; see Thiem, op. cit. in n. 16 above (1971), p. 360 and plate 1.

(18) For more on these frescoes, including colour reproductions, see A.G. Corsi Salviati, Affreschi di Palazzo Corsini, Florence, 1989.

(19) F. Baldinucci, in his biography of Gregorio Pagani, op. cit., vol. VIII, p. 344; noted by M. Chappell, 'Drawing in Seventeenth Century Florence', Drawing, vol. XII, no, 3, 1990, p. 55. For more on the academic tradition in Florentine drawing see F. Viatte, 'Pratique du dessin et enseignement academique', in C. Monbeig Gougel and F. Viatte, Dessins baroque florentines du musee du Louvre, exh. cat., Musee du Louvre, Paris, 1981, pp. 12-16.

(20) No. 1962.179; previously unpublished.

(21) Palais des Beaux Arts, Lille, no. PL 9: Draped man raising his right arm, red chalk on beige paper, 415 x 22.3 cm See B. Brejon de Lavergnee, Catalogue des dessins italiens: collections du Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Paris, 1997, no. 152, illustrated.

(22) The attribution to Jacopo Confortini was proposed by M. Chiarini in M. Chiarini and B. Brejon de Lavergnee, Bellezze di Firenze: Disegni fiorentini del Seicento e del Settecento dal Musee di Belle Arti di Lille, exh. cat., Palazzo Pitti, Florence, 1991, pp. 40-41, no. 15, illustrated

(23) The verso of no. 1962.179, which shows a winding procession of men and boys quickly drawn with the pen, bears little resemblance to other drawings by Confortini and further argues against his authorship.

(24) No. 2002.95.80; previously unpublished.

(25) For Cortona's influence on Dandini, see S. Bellessi, 'Reflessi cortoneschi in alcune pitture di Pier Dandini', Antichita Viva, vol. XXXVI, no. 2-3, 1997, pp. 98-107.

(26) For more on Dandini see S. Bellessi, 'Una vita inedita di Pier Dandini', Rivista d'arte, vol. XLIII, 1991, pp. 89-188.

(27) Louvre, Paris, no. 1125: Standing nude man facing forward, red chalk, 42.8 x 28.2 cm. See R. Bacou and F. Viatte, Dessins baroques florentins du musee du Louvre, exh. cat., Paris, Louvre, 1981, p 206, no. 125, reproduced on p. 207.

(28) Other academic drawings by Pietro Dandini close in style to the Fogg sheet include one in the Joseph McCrindle Collection; see F.A. den Broeder, Old Master Drawings from the Collection of Joseph F. McCrindle, exh. cat., Princeton Art Museum, 1991, p. 120, p. 121, no. 51, illustrated.

(29) No. 1966.24. On the verso: Studies of a seated figure and two putti, red chalk. Roberto Contini has endorsed the attribution to Vanni on the basis of a photograph. Baldinucci, op. cit., vol. XII, p. 124: 'Disegno non solo con franchezzza, ma con pulitezza e leggiadria ...'

(30) A. Petrioli Tofani, 'Sul alcuni disegni di Giovan Battista Vanni', Prospettiva, vols. XCIII-XCIV, 1999, pp. 165-75; F. Baldassari, 'Precisazioni sull' attivita giovanile di Giovan Battista Vanni', Paradigma, vol. IX, 1990, pp. 129-39.

(31) See L. Berti (ed.), La chiesa di Santa Maria del Carmine a Firenze, Florence, 1992, p. 188, fig, 15. Baldinucci, op. cit., vol. XII, p. 112, moreover, singled out for praise the 'angeletti bellissimi' in Vanni's St Lawrence in Glory altarpiece in the sacristy of St Peter's, Rome.

(32) Uffizi, Florence, no 108725: black and red chalks on white paper, 19 x 13 cm; see F. Baldassari in Il seicento florentino op. cit., no, 2.254b, p. 291.

(33) Uffizi, Florence, no. 2560s; see R. Contini, 'Bernini, Vannini, Martinelli e Vanni: congiunture Tosco-Romane del Seicento', Antichita Viva, vol XXXIV, no. 4, 1995, p. 44, fig. 8.

(34) Biblioteca Marucelliana, Florence, vol. A, no. 19: red chalk, 27.5 x 22.5 cm; see Il seicento, op. cit., fig. 2.257, p. 294, illustrated.

(35) No. 1964.53; framing papers are mounted irregularly to recto and verso. For more on Melissi's life and career, see R. Contini in Il Seicento Fiorentino, op. cit., vol. III, pp, 123-26; and A. Petrioli Tofani, 'Nota su alcuni disegni di Agustino Melissi', Paragone, no. 353, 1979, pp. 99-105

(36) Baldinucci, op. cit., vol XI, p. 279: 'Ha fatto moltissime opera per la citta, e molte ancora ne sono state mandate fuori.'

(37) For a list of five tapestries designed by Melissi, and relevant bibliography, see G. Cantelli, Repertorio della pittura fiorentina del Seicento, Fiesole, 1983, p. 114.

(38) No. 794.1.3011 (b): red chalk on off-white paper, 15.8 x 20.2 cm. See P. Ramade, Disegno: les dessins italiens du Musee des Rennes, exh. cat., Galleria Estense, Modena, 1990, p. 210, no. 123.

(39) No. CMNI 3140. See C. Monbeig-Goguel in La donation Jacques Petithory au Musee Bonnat, Bayonne, exh. cat., Musee du Luxembourg, Paris, pp. 286-87, no. 291, illustrated.

(40) Cantelli, op. cit., pp. 26-27 and 137.

(41) Thiem, op. cit. in n. 16 above (1971), p. 359.

(42) R. Contini, in Il Seicento Fiorentino, op. cit., vol. III, p. 123, '... Agostino Melissi e rimasto fin quasi al presente un pittore senza quadri.'

(43) Giovanni da San Giovanni, Volterrano, and Cecco Bravo belong to the same generation, and their drawings in the Fogg, listed in n. 5, should also be noted in this context.

Thomas McGrath is currently a Research Fellow in the Drawings Department, Fogg Museum, Cambridge. Mass. He has published on Italian renaissance and baroque drawings; the role of colour in art; artist/patron relationships; and sixteenth-century Florentine portraiture. Recent articles include 'Facing the text: Florentine author portraits in printed books, 1545 to 1585' (Word and Image, 2003).

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