Description
This work was modeled on a young studio assistant who appears frequently in Cesi's drawings, but it was preparatory for a painting of a much older Saint Benedict in the church of San Procolo, Bologna. The black chalk grid would have facilitated the artist in the transfer and enlarging of his design.
Provenance
Possibly Signori Locatelli, Bologna. E. Peart [script (Lugt 892) recto, lower left, in pen and brown ink]. Sold, Puttick and Simpson, London, May 15, 1914, part of lot 85, to William F. E. Gurley (1854-1943), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago for the Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection, 1922.
Accession Number
6856
Medium
Red chalk, heightened with touches of white chalk, on blue laid paper, squared in black and red chalk
Dimensions
35.2 × 21.4 cm (13 7/8 × 8 7/16 in.)
Classification
chalk
Credit Line
The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection