Padre Sebastiano Resta, Milan (1635-1714) (his attribution transcribed on the recto and shelfmarks transcribed on the verso by Jonathan Richardson, the elder); purchased from him by Henry Newton in Rome, 1712 on behalf of John, Lord Somers (1650-1716); his estate sale, Motteu (London), 5 May 1717; purchased there by Jonathan Richardson, the elder, London (1665-1745), L.2184, L.2983 and L.2992; John Barnard, London (1709-1784), L.1419 and L.1420; possibly his estate sale Greenwood (London) 16 - 24 February 1787 (numerous lots with various drawings by the Carraccis); Samuel Woodburn, London (1786-1853); perhaps his estate sale, Christie’s (London), 16-27 June 1854, lot 2299 (as 'Ag. Carracci - Vision of St Francis - pen', catalogue not annotated with buyers); Marquess of Cholmondeley (1883-1968); his sale, Sotheby's (London), 19 February 1930, probably part of lot 33; purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b (£1.5); Witt Bequest 1952 The mount inscription on the recto is of the type (and is in Italian) by Padre Sebastiano Resta, and the shelfmarks on the verso are typical of the Resta/Somers shelfmarks that appear on thousands of drawings that were acquired by Somers from Resta (via Henry Newton, the English envoy in Italy) and which were transcribed by Richardson, who had been brought in by Somers to rearrange these drawings, and so it is Richardon's hand transcribing Resta's inscriptions, his original shelfmarks, as well as Somers' new shelfmarks. The Resta albums only went from A through O, so the "X.11" shelfmark here is presumably Somers's new shelfmark, while the "O" below that could refer to the original Resta album in which this drawing existed, although there is no number after it, and it does not appear in Lansdowne MS 803, the BL manuscript transcript of Somers's collection of Resta drawings (all of the references to his Carracci drawings were transcribed by Jeremy Wood in his Master Drawings article, Spring 1996). According to Genevieve Warwick's 1996 Master Drawings article, Album O did not have drawings by Agostino Carracci in it, only by Annibale, and those meant to showcase his emulation of Correggio. There is also no Resta-Somers number on the recto of this draing (L.2981 - this is not unheard of, but it should still appear in Lansdowne 803 if it had belonged to Somers, see Wood 1996 p. 5). So the question is whether this drawing did belong to John Somers or whether this drawing followed an alternative route from Resta to Richardson? The above provenance supposes that this drawing did come from Album O (as given in Wood 1996 p. 36) but it could have come from a different album (see again Warwick 1996, the 4th album as described on pp. 242-44, which must have also been purchased by Somers but via Marchetti and p. 264, a drawing in the Ashmolean inscribed by Richardson as belonging to Resta but not to Somers).

Drawing in Bologna, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 18/06/1992-31/08/1992

Drawings by Guercino and other Baroque Masters, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/02/1977-01/03/1977

Italian Drawings of the 17th and 18th Centuries from the Witt
Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/03/1971-01/04/1971 ...More

Graziani, A., Bartolomeo Cesi, Milan, 1988
p., 166
Illus. no. 44

Byam Shaw, J., The Italian Drawings of the Frits Lugt Collection, Paris, 1983
vol. I, p. 334
Fig. 91

Bacou, Roseline, 'Bolognese Drawings of the Seventeenth Century' in 'Treasures from the Collection of Frits Lugt', Apollo, 1976
pp. 124-25 ...More

Watermark: Watermarks: unable to check drawing sheet due to mount. Mount (Richardson’s?), Verso: right centre: Strasburg bend (several matches though without a countermark none identical, e.g. Heawood 69 - Paris dated 1629).

Inscription: Mount (historic), Recto: lower centre, brown ink, Richardson transcribing Padre Resta – L.2992: "Stava notato per Fr: Vanni ma io lo credo piu tosto di / Agostino Caracci."; lower centre, red chalk, abraded: "Collection Cholmondley, Barnard, Richardson"; lower left corner, graphite, Witt number written next to erased number "30": "1157"; lower right corner, graphite, partly erased: "xB cf[...]". Mount (historic), Verso: upper centre, brown ink, Richardson the elder’s shelfmarks – L.2983: "X.11 / O"; upper right, brown ink, Barnard’s hand – L. 1420: "J:B. No: 634. / 11 by 5 ¼."; centre, graphite: "179 Close up [the latter words crossed through] / Hewlett / 6 Whitehall / X / 3/6"; lower centre, graphite: "Jonathan Richardson / from Barnard's fr J Reynolds' [the previous three words crossed through] + Woodburns Collects / .J B. .R."; lower centre, graphite, Witt’s hand: "See similar drawing belonging to Lugt fr. Heseltine Col. / Ag. Carracci"; lower right, brown ink: "Cholmondley. / from Saml Woodburns Collectn. / L-i- [another word below has been cut off by the edge of the mount]"; lower left edge, brown ink, cut off and only just visible: "159. [?]". Support (removed, in box of mounts in P&D), Recto: down left edge, graphite: "? Ricci da Novara / H. Macandrew / Jan. 74 / P. / Pr"; lower left, graphite:, "Lodovico Carracci Fresco in / S. Domenico for the Lambertini Chapel / (now in the room of the abbot) about 1590 (Bodmer)"; lower centre, graphite: [arrow pointing down] "Inscription in handwriting of Padre Resta - See Lugt 2992"; lower right, graphite: "J. Bodmer says this is not Agostino. / No figs in the frescoes / [unclear words] + the frescoes were / painted in 1604/5 + later + Agostino died / in 1602."; lower right, graphite: "See very similar drawing / in Coll. of F. Lugt / from / the Heseltine Colln. Richter / Sale".

Collector's mark: Recto: lower right, stamped in black: Jonathan Richardson, the elder (L.2184). Mount (historic), Recto: lower right, written in brown ink: John Barnard (L.1419); lower centre, written in brown ink: Jonathan Richardson, the elder (L.2992); lower left corner, stamped in black: Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b). Mount (historic), Verso: upper centre, written in brown ink: Jonathan Richardson, the elder (L.2983); upper right, written in brown ink: John Barnard (L.1420).