Head of a Youth Wearing a Cap; a Right Forearm with the Hand Clutching a Stone; and a Left Hand Holding a Drapery

1480/1485

Sandro Botticelli

Artist, Florentine, 1446 - 1510

The "Chief Framer"

Artist, Italian, 1500 - 1600

Sandro Botticelli

Attributed to

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    metalpoint heightened with white gouache on mauve prepared paper

  • Credit Line

    Woodner Collection, Patrons' Permanent Fund

  • Dimensions

    overall: 28.7 x 20.1 cm (11 5/16 x 7 15/16 in.)

  • Accession Number

    1991.190.1.a

Associated Artworks

See all 10 artworks
Four drawings of faces and bodies are affixed onto a larger vertical album page, on which architectural decorations have been drawn on to act as frames. Three vertical drawings are spaced along the top half of the ivory-colored album page, and one larger horizontal drawing fills the bottom half. Drawn with brown ink and gray washes, the frames resemble moldings and scrolls around each drawing, with garlands flanking the bottom sketch. The three drawings in the top zone are done with metalpoint on gray or mauve paper and are highlighted with touches of white. The metalpoint technique creates faint silvery-gray lines. In the top left drawing, a nude man stands facing us. In the center, the face of a cleanshaven young man with curling hair beneath a cap looks down and to our left. Below the face, a forearm and hand clutching a rock appears next to another study of a hand. In the drawing to our right, a man wearing a toga-like robe leans on a walking stick, facing our left in profile. The drawing at the bottom is done with gray metalpoint lines and white strokes against golden yellow paper. A person sits and twists up in a spiral to our left. In the center of this drawing are three studies of muscular legs. Then, to our right, a man sits on a throne holding a spear or scepter and globe, facing our right in profile. An inscription in the frame below the bottom drawing reads, “Filippo Lippi Pitt: Fior:”

Page from the Collection of Niccolò Gaddi (So-Called "Vasari Page")

Filippino Lippi, The "Chief Framer", Giorgio Vasari, Raffaellino del Garbo, Sandro Botticelli

1480

Saint Roch between Saints Anthony Abbot and Catherine of Alexandria

Raffaellino del Garbo, The "Chief Framer"

1485

Man with a Stick

Filippino Lippi, The "Chief Framer"

1500

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Giorgio Vasari [1511-1574]; Niccolò Gaddi [d. 1591]; possibly Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel; probably William Cavendish, 2nd Duke of Devonshire [1672-1729]; by descent, Chatsworth (inv.no.960) (sale, London, Christie's, 3 July 1984, lot 46); purchased by Ian Woodner, New York; by inheritance to his daughters, Andrea and Dian Woodner, New York, 1990; purchased by NGA, 1991.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1930

  • Italian Drawings Exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1930, no. 50 (recto only).

1949

  • Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth, Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1949, no. 10.

1962

  • Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth: A Loan Exhibition from the Devonshire Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. and elsewhere, 1962-63, no. 36.

1969

  • Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth: A Loan Exhibition from the Devonshire Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1969, no. 36.

1973

  • Old Master Drawings from Chatsworth: A Loan Exhibition from the Devonshire Collection, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, 1973-74, no. 36.

1985

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge, 1985, no. 76 (checklist only).

1986

  • Meisterzeichnungen aus Sechs Jahrhunderten: Die Sammlung Ian Woodner, Haus der Kunst, Munich and Vienna, 1986, no. 24.

  • Dibujos de los siglos XIV al XX: Colección Woodner, Museo del Prado, Madrid, 1986-87, no. 29.

1987

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, 1987, no. 22.

1990

  • Master Drawings from the Woodner Collection, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1990, no. 29.

1995

  • The Touch of the Artist: Master Drawings from the Woodner Collections, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1995-1996, no. 9.

1997

  • The Drawings of Filippino Lippi and his Circle, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1997-1998, nos. 6, 51, 64, 66, 79, 80, 84, 107, 108, 117.

2000

  • Sandro Botticelli, Der Bilderzyklus zu Dantes Göttlicher Komödie. Kulturforum, Berlin; Scuderie Papali al Quirinale, Rome; Royal Academy, London, 2000-2001, 364, 365 (.1.a only, as Botticelli) (shown only in Berlin).

  • Art for the Nation: Collecting for a New Century, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2000-2001, 132-135.

Bibliography

1997

  • Richler, Martha. National Gallery of Art, Washington: A World of Art. London, 1997: 35, color fig. 13.

2013

  • Schenck, Kimberly, et al. "A Page from Giogio Vasari's Libro de' Disegni as Composite Object." Facture 1 (2013): 2, 11, 14-15, 28, figs. 7-9 (color).

2018

  • Morrogh, Andrew. "Vasari's Libro and the Drawings Collection of Niccolò Gaddi: The Frames" in A Demand for Drawings: Five Centuries of Collectors and Collecting Drawings, ed. John Marciari. New York, 2018: 43, notes 24-25 (as The Chief Framer).

2022

  • Frank, Louiss, and Carina Fryklund. Vasari, The Book of Drawings: The Fate of a Mythical Collection. Paris and Stockholm, 2022: 145 and 147; fig. 16.

2023

  • Rinaldi, Furio. "The Rhythm of Line," or Botticelli's Drawings," in Botticelli Drawings, ed. Furio Rinaldo, San Francisco, 2023: 26 and fig. 21 (attributed to Raffaelino del Garbo)

Wikidata ID

Q64630499

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