12 - The Cavalier d'Arpino (attributed to)

The Cavalier d'Arpino (attributed to) Study of a Male Figure with a Vessel, 1610–1620, red chalk on laid paper The sheet depicts a young man in motion, captured in the act of advancing while holding an object—perhaps a vessel or an offering—with both hands. The figure is rendered with swift, fluid red chalk, using a continuous line that emphasizes the articulation of the body and the drape of the garments, while leaving secondary details more roughly defined.The composition of the figure and the exploration of gesture are reminiscent of the graphic work of Giuseppe Cesari, known as Cavalier d’Arpino, and in particular of the studies of individual figures the artist created in preparation for his more complex pictorial compositions. The typology of the figure—isolated from the narrative context and studied primarily in terms of its dynamic function—is characteristic of Cesari’s creative process.Of particular interest is the presence, on the reverse side of the same sheet, of a print depicting “Summer,” derived from Jacopo Bassano and bearing the inscription “LVCAS FECIT.” The engraving belongs to a Roman series of the Four Seasons, produced in Philippe Thomassin’s Roman workshop in the early 1620s. This circumstance provides a significant terminus post quem for the creation of the drawing, which cannot predate approximately 1609–1611.The resulting chronology thus places the sheet within Cavalier d’Arpino’s mature period, during the years of his Roman and Latium commissions executed between the second and third decades of the 17th century. Interesting parallels can be found in the preparatory studies for the Villa Lante project in Bagnaia, executed around 1613–1614, and more generally in the drawings belonging to the late phase of the artist’s graphic work. Water stains.Provenance: formerly in the Hubert de Marignane Collection, collection mark (Lugt 5120); formerly in the Mathias Polakovits Collection, collection mark (Lugt 3561). Recommended bibliography: H. Röttgen, Cavalier Giuseppe Cesari D’Arpino. Die Zeichnungen – I Disegni, Stuttgart, 2012–2013, particularly vol. III, dedicated to his drawings from the period 1605–1640.