Study of two seated girls

Artist/Maker

Material / Technique

Dimensionsh x w: Mått 32,8 x 35 cm

Inventory numberNMH 144/1863

AcqusitionTransferred 1866 from Kongl. Museum (Carl Gustaf Tessin)

Other titlesTitle (sv): Studie. Två sittande flickor Title (en): Study of two seated girls Inventory title (sv): Två sittande qvinnor sedda från ryggen

DescriptionDescription: Study of two seated girls. Laid down. Numbered in pen and brown ink at lower right: 81 (Sparre), inscribed k 96 (Lord John Somers) Originally acquired by Tessin as by Andrea del Sarto; first recognized as Alessandro Allori by Sirén. As Annamaria Petrioli Tofani first observed (1980), the sheet contains studies for a young woman in the left foreground of Allori's "Nativity of the Virgin" (Florence, SS. Annunziata), signed and dated 1602. Commissioned by Donato dell'Antella, the altarpiece was a signal commission for the artist, who also designed the architecture of the chapel which is located to the circular presbytery at the rear of the choir. The woman is studied twice, possibly first from life on the left, then with idealized facial features, and the addition of the towel slung over her shoulder that appears in the final painting. The study to the right is close to the painting: she wears the same undershirt and dress, and her hair is bound up, circled with a twisted strand of hair. There are differences, however. The draped box on which she sits became a bench inscribed with Allori's signature, and although her hand is exactly positioned as in the painting, Allori omitted the vessel that appears in the altarpiece. [Bjurström, It. Drawings, cat. no. 1101]

Collection

Geographical origin

MaterialPaper, Black chalk (Crayon)

TechniqueDrawing