Studies of Seven draped and half-draped figures

Sebastiano Piombo

Summary

A reproduction produced by the Vasari Society of a drawing by Sebastiano del Piombo. The drawing is of seven studies for figures. All are draped with cloth, some fully and some partially. Many of the figures are gesticulating with their hands; the figures in the top right and bottom left corners have their right hands on their chests, whilst the figure at the top left and the seated figure in the centre have their hands held together as if in prayer. Slight outlines of further figures are visible at the top of the drawing. The artist's name is written at the bottom of the drawing. Text from the accompanying booklet produced by the Vasari Society: "No. 9 SEBASTIANO DEL PIOMBO (b. 1485; d. 1547) STUDIES OF SEVEN DRAPED AND HALF-DRAPED FIGURES Library of Christ Church, Oxford, B. 22. From the General John Guise Collection, 1765. Pen and bistre. 24 x 21 cm. (9 7/16 x 8 5/16 in.). The central seated figure is clearly that of the Virgin in the Pietà in the Museo Civico at Viterbo, painted about 1514-17 (D'Achiardi, Sebastiano del Piombo, p. 121), although the lines of the drapery do not correspond exactly with the picture. The studies of draped and half-draped male figures do not appear to be connected with any known work of Sebastiano, unless the very slight sketch in the upper left corner of the sheet may be interpreted as a suggestion for incorporating them in a design for a Pietà more complicated than that ultimately carried out. But the forms of the draperies and exaggerated action, particularly of the hands, seem characteristic of the master and recall such figures as the Magdalen and the attendants at the Sepulchre, in the Pietà at the Hermitage, and the Christ in Hades, in the Prado. The name of the artist is in handwriting of the seventeenth century. C. F. B."