(1777-1815) Circle of, The Holy Blood of Christ, pen and brown ink, over traces of red chalk, on laid paper, 32,2 x 19,8 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Theme and composition of the present drawing go back to the painting "Il Sangue di Cristo" by Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini (Palazzo Chigi, Ariccia). The painting was reproduced in an engraving by Francois Spierre (1639-1681) only a short time after the painting’s execution. The crucified Christ surrounded by the Holy Father, Virgin Mary and angels, is hovering above the sea, in which the Redeemer’s blood is flowing from his wounds. Painting and engraving are identical, however, the present drawing, which is of a later date, shows several alterations of the baroque composition, particularly in the arrangement of the figures and in the dynamics of the directions of their view. The drawing’s theme is rendered in a more neo-classicist idiom; the sheet’s stylistic features point as was recently suggested to a North Italian artist from the circle of Giuseppe Bossi (Milan 1777-1815).

Literature: For comparable drawings by Bossi see: Roberta Olson, Italian Drawings, 1780-1890, Exh.cat., American Federation of Arts, Minneapolis/ San Franciso 1980. The engraving by F. Spierre after the painting by Bernini is illustrated in: Maria Grazia Bernardini (Ed.), Gian Lorenzo Bernini Regista del Barocco, Rome 1999, No. 222, p. 287.