(Pratovecchio 1592-1664 Firenze) A portrait study of a man, black and red chalk, on laid paper, 23 x 17,5 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Collection Francesco Maria Nicolo Gabburri (1676-1742), Lugt 2992b, his inscription "Jo. Fran.(?) end (tti) / Vignal." on the reverse; collection Jacques-Auguste Boussac (born in Paris in 1885), Lugt 729b; collection Marie Marignane, Paris, Lugt 1848; Galerie de Bayser, Paris.

Literature:
Vgl. J. Byam Shaw, The Italian Drawings of the Frits Lugt Collection, Paris 1983, Vol. I, p. 71, Cat.68; Nathalie Strasser, De Raphael à Gaugauin. Trésors de la collection Jean Bonna, Fondation de l'Hermitage, Lausanne 2005, Cat. 54; Nicholas Turner, "The Gaburri/Rogers Series of Drawn Self-Portraits and Portraits of Artists", in: Journal of the History of Collections, Volume 5, Januar 1993, pp. 179-216.

The present portrait drawing of a young man executed in red and black chalk is a characteristic example of the drawing oeuvre of Jacopo Vignali. It comes from the collection of the Florentine nobleman, painter and diplomat Maria Nicola Gabburri (1676-1742) who owned a large collection of portraits and self portraits of artists. Gaburri may have assembled the portrait collection in order to illustrate a book with the title „Vite de pittori“ comprising the biographies of famous artists. He considered this book his life work but left it unpublished. The manuscript is preserved in the Biblioteca Nazionale in Florence today. The collection of portrait drawings may have reached England soon after it had been acquired by the dealer William Kent in 1758. Between 8th-11th December 1762 it was offered on the art market in an anonymous sale in London and was sold to the English connoisseur and collector Charles Rogers (1711-84). (Turner 1993, pp. 179 ff.). A comparable drawing by Jacopo Vignali with the "Portrait of a young woman with a coral chain “which also comes from the Gaburri collection was sold at Sotheby's in London on 5th July 2000 (lot 11). It was acquired by Jean Bonna in Geneva (comp. Strasser 2005, Cat. 54). Another drawing comparable in style which derives also from the Gaburri collection is kept in the Lugt Collection (comp. Byam Shaw 1983, Cat. 68).

The attribution to Jacopo Vignali was confirmed by Prof. Miles Chappell on the basis of a high resolution digital photograph.