(Bassano 1557-1622 Venice) Portrait of Andrea Frizier, Portrait of Alvise Corradini, a study sheet on both sides, black chalk, on grey laid paper, 7 x 5 cm, mounted, unframed, (Sch)

Provenance: anonymous collector’s mark monogram M in an escutcheon with crown (not in Lugt); private collection, Italy.

With a certificate by Dott. ssa Giuliana Ericani (April 12, 2010).

Literature: Atti del Convegno Internazionale dedicato a "Jacopo Bassano, i figli, la scuola, l'eredita", Bassano del Grappa, Padova, March 31 - April 2, 2011.

The portrait of a man with folded hands shows physiognomic similarities with the portrait of Andrea Frizier, imperial chancellor of Venice by Leandro Bassano in the Museo Civico in Padua (c. 1582). Both works seem to depict the same sitter; the sketch may be related to the painting and may, like the portait on the reverse, derive from a sketchbook by Leandro Bassano. Both portrait sketches are stylistically comparable with a head study in red chalk for the painting "The Matyrdom of Saint Martina“ in the church San Sisto in Piacenza (1598) which may have been executed at the same time. The red chalk drawing may be a preliminary study for the portrait of Alvise Corradini in the Museo Civico di Padua (1592).

According to Dott. ssa Ericani the present two drawings are an important addition to the knowledge of the graphic work of Leandro Bassano. Both drawings were part of a sketchbook which the artist used as a reference book for physignomies and for detail studies. They allow deeper insight in the working methods of Bassano as a painter and draftsman. The sheets may have also served as presentation sketches for the artist with the client who assigned the portraits to him in order to discuss arrangements, structures and alterations of the portraits’compositions.