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Female figure (recto and verso)

Maker

(artist)
1503-1540

Title

Date of Production

1531 - 1535

Medium

pen and brown ink and light brown wash, with brown ink framing lines on three sides (recto), red chalk with touches of black and white chalk (verso) on laid paper

Dimensions

Height: 13.5 cm
Width: 5.2 cm

Accession Number

D.1978.PG.366

Mode of Acquisition

Count Antoine Seilern, bequest, 1978

Credit

The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)

Copyright

Work in the public domain

Location

Not currently on display

Keywords

Label Text

(recto) The most ambitious commission of Parmigianino’s short career was the decoration of the church of Santa Maria della Steccata in the artist’s native Parma. This study of a nude served as the basis for the figures of the Wise and Foolish Virgins in the barrel vault preceding the apse. There, a row of these elongated figures are shown in subtly varied positions, with the gentle twists of their bodies expressing the elegance and grace typical of Parmigianino’s inventions.

(verso) This red chalk study is a variation of the standing female nude on the other side of this sheet executed in pen and ink. An ink spot marking the figure’s navel has seeped through to this side of the paper, which Parmigianino used to mark the same feature of his second nude in red chalk. This is an unusually creative approach to developing the two female figures in different positions, both serving the artist as models for the decoration of Santa Maria della Steccata in Parma.

Notes

The sheet has been trimmed on the left edge, which is missing its framing line and part of the "P" of the inscription. The verso drawing was only revealed once in Seilern's collection and the pre-existing backing was removed. Bought by Seilern as a study for Eve, but Popham pointed out the differences and it is now associated with the Wise and Foolish Virgins. Seilern dated it c. 1535, as most of the work on the vault of Santa Maria della Steccata in Parma was done after the award of the second contract on 27 September 1535; the dates of 1531-39 used here refer to the full duration of the commission for the work, which Parmigianino never executed and was passed to Anselmi.

Provenance

Lionel Lucas, London (1822-1862), L.1733a (lower right); by descent to his nephew, Claude Lucas; his sale, Christie's (London), 9 December 1949, lot 87; Hugh Squire, London; purchased from him by Colnaghi (London); purchased there by Count Antoine Seilern, London (1901-1978), 7 June 1962 (£1,000); Princes Gate Bequest 1978

Exhibition History

Drawings Gallery Display - The Art of Experiment: Parmigianino at The Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/05/2022-06/05/2022

Drawings Gallery Display - Renaissance Modern, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 22/04/2015-07/06/2015

Parmigianino - Paintings, Drawings, Prints, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 14/05/1987-12/07/1987

Literature

The Art of Experiment: Parmigianino at The Courtauld, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 2022
cat. no. 6
and on pp. 16, 28, 68
ill. on p. 63 (recto and verso), detail of verso is fig. 79 on p. 170, UV detail is fig. 83 on p. 172, watermark is fig. 94 on p. 176

Parmigianino: dessins du Louvre, Musée du Louvre, Paris, 17 December 2015-15 February 2016 Paris 2015
p. 147n4

Parmigianino: the alchemy of beauty: drawings and prints, Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, 1 Dec. 2009 - 15 Mar. 2010
p. 137 ...More

Gnann, Achim, Parmigianino: Die Zeichnungen, Petersberg 2007
vol. I, p. 262 and vol. II, no. 795
ill. (recto and verso)

Vaccaro, Mary, Parmigianino: the paintings, Turin 2002
p. 189 under no. 37

Parmigianino - Paintings, Drawings, Prints, Courtauld, London, 1987
cat. no. 27

Ghidiglia Quintavalle, Augusta, Gli ultimi affreschi del Parmigianino, Milan 1971
p. 92

Popham, A. E., Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino, New Haven and London 1971
no. 774
pl. 320

Seilern, Count Antoine, Corrigenda and Addenda to the Catalogue of paintings and drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London, London 1971
no. 366

Fagiolo dell'Arco, Maurizio, Il Parmigianino: un saggio sull'ermetismo nel Cinquecento, 1970
p. 277

Seilern, Count Antoine, Italian paintings and drawings at 56 Princes Gate, London SW7. Addenda, London 1969; V
no. 366
pl. La (recto), pl. Lb (verso)
dated c. 1535

Popham, A.E., Artists working in Parma in the sixteenth century, British Museum, London 1967
p. 103 under no. 206

Dessins de l'École de Parme: Corrège, Parmesan, Musée du Louvre, 1964
p. 70 under no. 87

Popham, A.E., 'Dessins du Parmesan au Musée des Beaux-Arts de Budapest' in 'Bulletin du Musée Hongrois des Beaux-Arts', 1961; 19
p. 46 ...Less

Inscriptions

Watermark: Watermark: Recto, left centre edge, fragment: top of a small Greek cross formed with double lines (see tracing and photograph in object file).

Collector's mark: Recto: lower right corner, stamped in black: Lionel Lucas (L.1733a).

Inscription: Recto: lower left, brown ink: “Parmesan”. Verso: lower left corner (on a repair added on the verso, presumably the paper was skinned and needed reinforcing), brown ink, partly covered by handling edge: “7[?]75”; lower left edge (on same repair), black chalk: “P”.

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