(active in Naples, Rome and Amsterdam 1575-1618) The Holy Family with the angel and Saint John the Baptist, pen and brown ink, brown wash, on laid paper, 30,5 x 21,4 cm, slightly browned, somewhat stained, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Collection Giuseppe Vallardi (1784-1863), Milan (Lugt 1223); an anonymous collector’s mark coat-of-arms (not with Lugt) on the reverse; private collection, Italy.

Literature:
Comp. Nicole Dacos, "Le MaŒtre des albums Egmont: Dirck Hendricksz. Centen", in: Oud Holland, Vol. 104, No. 2, 1990, pp. 49-68; Colin Eisler, "The Egmont Albums. A New Collection of Drawings for Yale", in: The Yale University Library Gazette 32/3, 1958, pp. 85-92; Gert Jan van der Sman: "Observations on the Master of the Egmont Albums", in: Sabine Eiche a.o. (Eds.), Fiamminghi a Roma 1508-1608, Symposium Museum Catharijneconvent, Utrecht, March 13, 1995, Florence 2000, pp. 45-65.

The Master of the Egmont Album was identified by Philip Pouncey in 1958 on the basis of several drawing albums from the former Collection von John Perceval, 1st Earl of Egmont. Until then the numerous sheets could not be ascribed to anyone and were attributed to several different artists including Jacques de Gheyn, Francesco Salviati, Rubens, Federico Barocci, Hans von Aachen, Pordenone, Jan Blocklandt, Giulio Romano, Claudius Cock, Tintoretto and Giovanni della Rovere. Only in 1990 Nicole Dacos was able to identify the author of the sheets with Dirck Hendricksz Centen, an artist from Amsterdam, who was better known in Italy as Teodoro d'Errico. This artist was mainly active in Naples where he decorated churches such as San Gregorio Armeno, Santa Maria la Nova and San Domenico Maggiore in the last quarter of the 16th century. His style adapts the distorted figures with their dramatic gestures which were so predominant in Central Italy Mannerism then. He was also influenced by artists working in Rome around 1570 such as Bertoja, Raffaelino da Reggio or Taddeo Zuccari, who in turn reflect the style of Parmigianio. Comparable sheets are kept in the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, in the Rijksmuseum Het Catherijneconvent in Utrecht, and in private collections in London and New York.

We are grateful to Prof. Nicholas Turner for his scientific support concerning the attribution of the present drawing