It is a relatively large (35 by 45 cm) but rather battered looking drawing in the style of Leonardo da Vinci, and looks to be done by a fairly accomplished artist. The inscriptions on the back certainly add to the impression that it is genuinely old. In that case, it should be worth more, at least £1,000 to £2,000 without even guessing who the artist might be.
The drawing depicts a Virgin and Child with a St. Joseph to the left (so really a Holy Family), and the head of an old man more faintly to the upper right. I would describe it as School of Leonardo, but wasn't able to find any paintings really similar to it (many matching elements, but e.g. the child seems to sculpted and muscled to be by Leonardo, and he usually didn't show the ear of the Virgin but hid it beneath hair), and am curious if it will attract a bidding war or not. All ideas on who the artist might be, or what school or date, are welcome!
UPDATE: an anonymous reader commented (see below this post) and showed me the artist and painting..
Are the drawings by Sodoma, a follower, or fakes? Perhaps they are just drawing made by an artist on his Grand Tour seeing the works of Sodoma. But it's good to be able to put a possible name to the origin of them.
UPDATE 2: WITHDRAWN! Last minute withdrawn from the auction. Whether that has anything to do with this blog is anybody's guess of course.
Hi, i'm sorry for my bad English.
ReplyDeleteFor my personal view, is related to Sodoma.
The only similar online resources that i've found , are:
this drawing: http://www.olmuart.cz/en/collections/drawing--42/giovanni-antonio-bazzi-detto-il-sodoma--184/
this painting: http://catalogo.fondazionezeri.unibo.it/foto/120000/87200/87062.jpg
What do you think about Sodoma?
But I've some doubt about authenticity of this drawing.
Thank you! That painting is the kind of thing I was looking for, which I normally add to my blogs to make them really interesting. I was not sure about this one, but you saved my day!
ReplyDeleteWhether it is authentic or not is very hard to judge, but at least we now have the name of the artist who either made the drawing, or after which the drawing was made. According to Wikipedia, "Some of his works, including the Holy Family now in the Pinacoteca, Siena have been mistaken for works of Leonardo da Vinci." so my direction of thought wasn't too bizarre. I'll update my blog with the info you provided.
Your direction is not bizarre, I've in memory some other Leonardo pieces that remember this drawing but isn't properly a Leonardo, Sodoma could be a very interesting name to spend.
ReplyDeleteFake not, Sodoma or Grand Tour XVI-XVII artist? Is complicated.
Thank you for your really interesting blog and for your contribute to my "diletto" in art.
Alessio
Thank you. The drawing was apparently withdrawn from the auction, perhaps because of this discussion? It will be interesting to see whether it reappears with a different attribution in a later auction.
ReplyDeleteCould be... Will funny if the drawing reappear with the note: "in manner of Giovanni Antonio Bazzi dit Sodoma"
ReplyDeleteGood summer holidays