Gaudenzio FERRARI (Valdugia 1475 - Milan 1546)

Lot 1
Go to lot
Estimation :
7000 - 8000 EUR
Gaudenzio FERRARI (Valdugia 1475 - Milan 1546)
Saint Matthew and the Angel Black stone, pen and brown ink, brown wash, white highlights on blue paper, curved, stitched outlines 34.5 x 18 cm (Restorations) Provenance: - Collection of Count Vilain XIV (1778 - 1856); Acquired from the Claude van Loock Gallery, Brussels, in May 1984. Exhibition: - Drawings from the Christian and Isabelle Adrien collection, Rennes, Musée des Beaux - Arts, 2012, n° 1, reproduced, (notice by Nicolas Schwed). Note: Our drawing is preparatory to the polyptych commissioned in 1529 from Gaudenzio Ferrari for the church of San Cristofo in Vercelli, by the Count of Lignana. This polyptych, intended for the high altar, consisted of a central painting, The Madonna of the Oranges, and four panels, each with the figure of an evangelist. This was a typical composition for a Piedmontese altarpiece in the early years of the 16th century. The painting probably fell out of fashion in the second half of the 16th century and was relegated to the presbytery, where the four side panels were dismantled. The Madonna of the Oranges was returned to the apse, but the four Evangelists remained in the presbytery. Our drawing, which is very well finished, shows almost no variation from the polyptych. It is the final study that was enlarged for the painting. The careful execution, the chiaroscuro with white gouache, the angular treatment of the hands are typical of the work of Gaudenzio Ferrari, who was one of the most important sculptors and painters in Piedmont during the Renaissance. His terracotta frescoes for the Sacro Monte in Varallo are the most brilliant of his early works. His first important polyptych, painted in 1508, is now dispersed between the gallery Sabauda in Turin and the National Gallery in London. From 1529 Ferrari moved to Vercelli where he devoted most of his work to the decoration of the church of San Cristoforo. He then worked in Milan.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue