Domenico Passignano

(1559-1638) attributed to, Study of a man seated, seen from behind, inscribed "Passignano" in pen and brown ink, 26,8 x 22,5 cm, browned, stained, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance: collector’s mark Qi (not in Lugt) Comparable Literature: A large group of drawings of Passignano are preserved in the Uffizien in Florence, see: J. L. Nissman (Ed.), Disegni dei toscani a Roma (1580-1620), Exh. cat. Florence 1979, Nos. 52-72, Figs. 62-88. More drawings by Passignano are kept in the Louvre in Paris (F. Viatte, Dessins Toscans XVIe-XVIIIe siecles, I, Paris 1988, Nos. 301-314) and in Windsor Castle (J. Wilde, The Italian Drawings of the XV and XVI Centuries in the Collection of His Majesty the King at Windsor Castle, London 1949, Nos. 674-676, Fig. 132-4.) Passignano spent the first years of his artistic training in the workshop of Girolamo Macchietti (1535-1592). There he acquired a solid basis in figure drawing through practising after the model. Apart from preliminary studies for figures Passignano may also have executed drawings spontaneously for individual figures after models or after workshop members which may not be related to a particular asignment. The spontaneous and natural expression of the present drawing make it likely that it is perhaps an independent and free study by Passignano after a model in his workshop. The coarse and wide hatchings and the loose penstroke make the sheet comparable with the „Study of a young man kneeling“ in the Uffizi (Inv. 9171 F; red chalk on paper, 29,1 x 21,6 cm) and "Study of a man , seen from behind" (Inv. 9173 F; black and white chalk, on blue paper, 40,4 x 23,1 cm). Our sheet is also comparable with a group of four nude studies in red chalk in the graphic collection of the Louvre (Inv. 1096, 1097, 1100, 1103), which are dated around 1580. At that time Passignano was the collaborator of Federico Zuccari. Zuccari came to Florence in 1575. They Zuccari finished the dome of Santa Maria del Fiore together and subsequently went to Rome in 1580.

Specialist: Mag. Astrid-Christina Schierz