Provenance
Colonel Henry Stephen Olivier, his stamp on the lower left hand corner (Lugt 1373); Sale, London, Sotheby’s, 13 December 1966, lot 38.
Literature:
R. Eitel-Porter, ‘Cesare Nebbia at the Vatican’, Apollo, November 1995, p 19, reproduced fig. 1.
Condition:
Slight cracks and paper damage on the lower part of the sheet.
Description / Expertise
This drawing is of particular importance in that it records the complete composition, ready for transfer, made by the artist in preparation for a scene on the vault of the Galleria delle Carte Geografiche in the Vatican. It is one of 24 monochrome panels painted in yellowish brown, enclosed in a rectangular frame, and illustrating the theme of sacrifice in the Old Testament. In an age of elaborate fresco cycles , Pope Gregory XIII commissioned Girolamo Muziano (1528-1592), one of his favourite painters, to carry out the decoration. Nebbia was Muziano’s closest associate and their collaboration on the ceiling of the Galleria delle Carte Geografiche (1580) is recorded twice , resulting in numerous drawings now being connected to these decorations in addition to preparatory studies already identified as by Nebbia .
Clearly derived from earlier treatments of the same subject by Raphael in the Stanza d’Eliodoro and more closely by Federico Barocci in the frieze of the Sala Regolini-Golassi in the Vatican , there are clear variations between the finished drawing and the frescoed monochrome panel. Whilst the flock of sheep placed in the background of our sheet has been replaced by trees in the finished fresco and repositioned in the foreground of the scene also doing away with the sheepdog. In addition, whilst in the drawing the burning bush engulfs the tree, in the fresco it is more contained as a visionary gold burst. Furthermore, not only is Mose’s hair longer in the finished panel but he also looks at God instead of hiding his face and his pose emulates Raphael’s figures . Adding humour to the scene, a pair of shoes sits in the foreground. However, whilst Nebbia has resolved on paper arising problems of pose, expression, modulation of light and shadow, the constraints imposed by architectural elements forces the artist to render the figure of Moses squat and bulky.
On the whole, cardinals and very few popes were great art lovers. Indeed, while Muziano and Nebbia were reliable and conventional artists, they produced works of pleasing and reasonable standard, their talent fitting in well with progressive papal patronage. It is Nebbia’s later work as supervisor of the decorative enterprises under Sixtus V which illustrates Papal favour for the painter’s competence. The artist’s graphic works can be found in Private Collections; in Musee du Louvre Paris; British Museum, London; Musee des Beaux-Arts, Brussels; Biblioteca Comunale degli Intronati, Siena; Martin von Wagner Museum, Wurtzburg.
Price
gbp 6200.00 (Pound Sterling)
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