CARLO MARATTI (1625-1713)

STUDIES OF PUTTI AND DRAPERY
Red & black chalk, heightened with white on blue paper
27 x 42 cm
 
PROVENANCE:
Anonymous sale; Sotheby’s, New York, 13 January 1989, lot 267;
Private collection, New York
 
 
 
This large and unusually vibrant sheet contains preparatory studies for two of the angels in the fresco of the Triumph of the Cross, painted by Maratti between 1655-1657, in the cupola of the Ludovisi chapel in the church of Sant’Isidoro a Capo le Case, Rome (see fig. I above). Two further preparatory drawings for Maratti's work in Sant'Isidore are known: a project for the entire cupola, sold at Christie’s, London, 5.12.2019, lot 61; and a sheet of studies in the Museum der Kunstpalast in Düsseldorf (inv. KA(FP) 12494). 

The work's attribution has been endorsed by Simonetta Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, who will include it in her forthcoming monograph on Maratti. Comparable examples of the artist's distinctive drawings in red chalks on blue and blue-grey paper to have appeared at auction in recent years include A Sheet of Studies of Putti, sold at Sotheby's, London, 05.07.2017, Lot 84 (and presently in a Distinguished Private Collection, London); Two Studies of a Baby Sleeping, sold at Christie's, New York, 24.01.2006, Lot 32; and The infant Romulus and two studies of arms, sold at Christie's, New York, 22.01.2004, Lot 45.