Description
This monumental drawing shows Denys Calvaert’s nearly final conception for an altarpiece. The artist made a few intriguing changes before completing the painting. He replaced a child in the lower left of the drawing with an older saint figure, covered the Christ Child’s genitalia, and shifted Saint Francis’s head toward the center of the composition.
Provenance
Jonathan Richardson, Jr. (1694–1771) [stamp (Lugt 2170), recto, lower right, in black]. Yvonne Tan Bunzl, London, by 1970 [London, 1970]; sold to Dorothy Braude Edinburg, Brookline, Mass., Feb. 1971; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1998.
Accession Number
149022
Medium
Black chalk on blue laid paper
Dimensions
52.1 × 31.2 cm (20 9/16 × 12 5/16 in.)
Classification
chalk
Credit Line
Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection