Description: "A pupil of the same Agnolo (Gaddi) in painting was Cennino di Drea Cennini of Colle di Valdelsa, who, having great affection for the art, wrote a book describing the methods of working in fresco, in distemper... The drawings by Agnolo, which I keep in my Libro, demonstrate that he was no great draughtsman." (Vasari, 1912-14, I, pp. 221-222.)

Inscribed in pen and brown ink along the lower border: Cennino d'Andrea Cennini da Colle di Valdelsa Pitt(re) Fiorentino (Vasari's hand). Numbered in pen and brown ink at lower right: I.

Degenhart and Schmitt attribute the drawing to Paolo Schiavo and point to the influence of both Masolino and Domenico Veneziano, which is characteristic for Schiavo. They further recognise the stiff and narrow character of the figure as well as the schematic folds of the dress. Degenhart and Schmitt date the drawing to the period following Schiavo's stay at Castiglone d'Olona, which means c. 1440. There are certain affinities between this drawing and Paolo Schiavo's picture of the "Coronation of the Virgin" in the Museum in Cleveland. 
Chastel points, however, to its kinship with the figures in the altarpieces that M. Boskovits connected with the name of Cennini, so sensitive to the amiable painting of the late Gothic. [Bjurström, It. Drawings, cat. no. 1042]

Foto: Cecilia Heisser/Nationalmuseum 2018

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