Saint Francis of Assisi Adoring the Virgin and Child

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.

Saint Francis of Assisi Adoring the Virgin and Child

Denys Calvaert

1607

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

Museum

The Art Institute of Chicago

Chicago, United States

Credit Line

Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection