(1598–1680) The Angel with the Crown of Thorns, red chalk on laid paper, 22–26,5 cm x 7,5 – 14 cm, browned, stained, unmounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Private collection, Austria.

With the copy of a certificate by Prof. Francesco Petrucci (November 2021).

The present hitherto unpublished drawing was made in preparation for the figure of „The Angel Carrying the Crown of Thorns“, executed by Gian Lorenzo Bernini between 1667-1669 and commissioned by Pope Clemens IX as part of a series comprising ten sculptures for the Ponte Sant’Angelo in Rome. The sculpture is now in the church Sant’ Andrea delle Fratte in Rome and has been replaced by a replica by his pupil Paolo Naldini (1619-1691). Apart from the “Angel Carrying the Crown of Thorns” Bernini also made the “Angel Carrying the Cross” which was also replaced by a copy and transferred to Sant‘ Andrea delle Fratte. The other eight sculptures were created by pupils of Bernini and are by Paolo Naldini, Cosimo Fancelli, Ercole Ferrata, Antonio Giorgetti, Girolamo Lucenti, Domenico Giudi, Antonio Raggi und Lazzaro Morelli. Numerous of Bernini’s handmade bozzetti in terracotta are known. They prove the thorough preparation of the entire sculpture project. For the “Angel Carrying the Crown of Thorns” five bozzetti are extant: two are kept in the Fogg Art Museum in Cambridge, Massachussets (Inv. Nr. 1937.57, Inv. No. 1937.58), one in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (Inv. No. R.F. 2312), one in the Kimbell Art Museum, Fort Worth (Inv. No. AP 1987.02b) and another one in the Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg (Inv. No. 628). In addition, several preliminary drawings with angels by Bernini are known, including two which are preparing the figure of the “Angel Carrying the Crown of Thorns”. They are preserved in the Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig (pen and brown ink, 11,6 x 7,5 cm, Inv. No. 7867) and in the Staatliche Kupferstichkabinett in Berlin. In addition, there are drawings which are related to the other sculptures in the Galleria Pallavicini, Rome and which are attributed to the workshop of Bernini (cf. M. Fagiolo dell‘ Arco, Berniniana. Novità sul regista del Barocco, Milan 2001, p. 63, fig. 32-34).
The present drawing may have been executed chronologically after the study in Leipzig. It shows the angel in a comparable pose with the left leg slightly bent in contrapposto, whereas Bernini’s design in Berlin shows the leg slightly bent as it was realized also in the sculpture. The drawing shows great similarities with one of the two bozzetti in the Fogg Art Museum, Massachusetts (Inv. Nr. 1937.58) and with the bozzetto in the Musée du Louvre, Paris. Comparing the known preliminary drawings and bozzetti, the present sheet may have been executed in preparation of the sculpture by a collaborator in Bernini’s workshop. Stylistically, however, the proportions and the outlines of the figures seem comparably mechanical, so that an attribution to a close collaborator of Bernini, such as Paolo Naldini, Giulio Cartari oder Paolo Valentino seems unlikely.