(1581-1641) Design for a pendentive decoration with Saint John, inscribed "Domenichino" in pen and brown ink, red chalk, on laid paper, 10,3 x 14 cm, trimmed at lower corners, slightly browned, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

The present sheet is presumably a preliminary study for one of the frescoes in the pendentives below the dome of Sant'Andrea della Valle in Rome, each of which is showing one of the four evangelists. While the grand decoration „The Glory of Paradise“ in the cupola of the church was executed by Lanfranco, the decoration of the choir and the pendentives with the four evangelists and the six virtues were assigned to Domenichino. The participation in the dome was to be the most important assignment for the artist as a fresco painter. The present study shows Saint John, the youngest of all evangelists with a tablet and surrounded by putti. He is just receiving inspiration for the transcription of his gospel. The lantern at left above Saint John, which is missing in the present drawing, symbolizes the light of God. The figure of Saint John was used again by Domenichino for the altar painting in SS. Giovanni Evangelista e Petronio, c. 1626 and for the large painting for the Marchese Vincenzo Giustiniani. Only few of the many preliminary drawings which Domenichino made for the project have survived: several of them are preserved in the collection of Windsor Castle (Saint Matthew, P. H. n.688-711), in the Academia de San Fernando in Madrid (Saint Matthew, n. 253; Saint Mark, no. 254), in the British Museum in London (Saint Luke, n. 1920-11-16-39) and in the Louvre in Paris (n.9083). Several studies for Saint John are preserved today in Windsor Castle (P.-H., n.734-36, 737 v., 738-50, 751).

Literature: Richard E. Spear, Domenichino, 2 Vols., New Haven/ London 1982, pp. 242-250.