ITALIAN SCHOOL (c.1580-1620)

STUDY FOR AN ALTARPIECE WITH THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL AND AN ANGEL HOLDING A CIBORIUM
Bears inscription verso del Pomarancio
Pen & ink, heightened with touches of white bodycolour, on yellow-brown washed laid paper
26 x 19.7 cm
 
 
 
 
The present work has thus far eluded attribution, though it can be identified at least as Italian, and was likely produced around the turn of the sixteenth century. There is a drawing by Camillo Procaccini in the Metropolitan Museum of Art which is broadly comparable in execution, media and composition (see fig. I). [1] In that sheet (as in several others by Camillo) one can see the same very distinctive and contrasting two facial types as can be seen in our drawing: one, evinced in the soldier to the left foreground and the women in the right middle-ground, with wide open and graphic eyes; the other, seen in the figures atop the scaffold and behind, with dark, impenetrable eyes. 
 
The subject of our work, together with the arched framing line, does indeed suggest that it was a design for an altarpiece; however, the standard Italian digitalised archives of artworks across the country do not contain records of any paintings featuring the Archangel Saint Michael (clearly identified here with his attributes of the Scales of Justice and his sword) which match our sheet. [2]
 
There is a painting by Ventura Salimbeni in Pisa Cathedral which shows the Archangel Michael holding both sword and scales adjacent to an angel or archangel holding a ciborium (see fig. II) [3]; however, Salimbeni's graphic style is not closely comparable to our sheet's. 
 
Whatever the case, the draftsman responsible for our drawing was evidently very skilled, and we hope one day that a name will come to light!