(Rome 1536–1614)
Saints Peter and John Healing a Lame Man, pen, brush and brown ink, brown wash, over black chalk, on laid paper, inscribed “Nicolo Pomerancio (...).” and numbered “L. 149” in pen and brown ink at lower margin, 23 x 33 cm, mounted, framed, (Sch)

Provenance:
Padre Sebastiano Resta, Rome (1635–1714), Lugt 149;
Collection John, Lord Somers (1650–1716), Oxford, Lugt 2981, his inscription “L. 149”, as Cesare Nebbia;
Collection Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769–1830), London, Lugt 2445;
Collection M. H. Bloxam, given to the Rugby School Art Museum;
his inscription and attribution “Rugby School Art Museum e dono Matt: H: Bloxam/ “Nic. Circignano detto il Pomerancio-/ a. d. 1516–1588/ Lawrence Colelction” (on the mount);
Auction sale Christie’s, London, 4th December 2018, lot 36.

Literature:
Rhoda Eitel-Porter, Der Zeichner und Maler Cesare Nebbia. 1536–1614, Munich 2009, S. 200 (as Cesare Nebbia workshop).

On the occasion of the Holy Year in 1575 Pope Gregor XII induced the renovation of the vaults of the atrium of Old St. Peter’s cathedral in Rome. Cesare Nebbia and Raffaellino da Reggio were commissioned to create the new frescoes above the doors. When staying in Rome at the time of the frescos‘ execution, Karel van Mander reports that Nebbia was responsible for the depiction showing „St Peter Healing the Sick with His Shadow“, for which the preliminary drawing is preserved in the Louvre in Paris (Inv. 1369; Eitel-Porter 2009, fig. 27). Rhoda Eitel-Porter mentions the stylistic and compositional similarities between the Louvre sheet and the present drawing, which suggests that the present drawing could have also been executed in preparation for the fresco painting. Van Mander mentions that Raffaelino da Reggio executed the fresco „Saints Peter and John Healing the Lame Man”. It seems possible, however, that both artists provided designs for the fresco for which Raffaellino da Reggio finally received the commission.
A second version of the present scene shows another arrangement of the figures on the right side and an additional figure in the center of the composition. It is preserved in the Kupferstichkabinett Berlin (Inv. KdZ 22192; Eitel-Porter p. 234, fig. 29). Considering that the Berlin drawing and the Louvre sheet were both executed in preparation of the frescoes in St. Peter one cannot exclude that the present drawing was made by Nebbia himself and not by a workshop member as was assumed by Eitel-Porter. Moreover, the present sheet‘s underdrawing in black chalk suggests that it is a design by Nebbia’s own hand rather than a copy by a workshop member.