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Source Description
Battista Franco was one of Michelangelo’s most devoted followers: his biographer Giorgio Vasari wrote that he drew every figure on the master’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. In Franco’s own works, such as this drawing, he made new, inventive compositions that emulated Michelangelo without directly copying or quoting his works.<br><br>The drawing—possibly a study for painted pottery—shows the Virgin Mary and Christ flanked by Saints Anne and Catherine. The unusual, twisting forms of the saints recall the inventive poses that Michelangelo created for many of the saints on the <em>Last Judgment</em> fresco.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
141560
label
Virgin and Child with St. Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Anne (?)
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
141560
contentType
drawing
title
Virgin and Child with St. Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Anne (?)
description
Battista Franco was one of Michelangelo’s most devoted followers: his biographer Giorgio Vasari wrote that he drew every figure on the master’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. In Franco’s own works, such as this drawing, he made new, inventive compositions that emulated Michelangelo without directly copying or quoting his works.<br><br>The drawing—possibly a study for painted pottery—shows the Virgin Mary and Christ flanked by Saints Anne and Catherine. The unusual, twisting forms of the saints recall the inventive poses that Michelangelo created for many of the saints on the <em>Last Judgment</em> fresco.
date
c. 1545
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80041140
creators
300711
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 26.1 x 26.2 cm (10 1/4 x 10 5/16 in.)
cul
Italy, 16th century
accession
1965.16
Source extras
tec
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash with red chalk underdrawing, heightened with white gouache (partially tarnished); pricked (lower part of Virgin)
tombstone
Virgin and Child with St. Catherine of Alexandria and Saint Anne (?), c. 1545. Battista Franco (Italian, c. 1510–1561). Pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash with red chalk underdrawing, heightened with white gouache (partially tarnished); pricked (lower part of Virgin); sheet: 26.1 x 26.2 cm (10 1/4 x 10 5/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Delia E. Holden Fund, 1965.16
supportMaterials
description
light brown laid paper, lined with Japanese paper
collection
DR - Italian
inscriptions
inscription
VERSO OF MOUNT (now removed, partially destroyed), center left, in brown ink: Lot 284 Roscoe Sale / 397 St[ud?]ley Martin / Sale. L' pool 29: / Jan : 1889. [284, 397 underlined] ; lower left, in graphite: The owner of / the V and A Tiepolo album? / H. Macandrew / Feb. 76 [with arrow to next inscription] ; lower left, in graphite: ["Mr. Cheney" in ink inscription describing restoration.] [sideways; brackets part of transcription] ; on sheet attached to verso of mount now removed, in brown ink: Battista Franco / born in Venice 1498 died 1561 family name Semolei / This drawing was in collections of / Lord Spencer, and Richardson_ bought by / Mr Martin at Mr. Roscoes sale 24 Sept / 1816 No 284 in Catalogue, in July 1862 / the lights were restored by an artist under / the advice of Mr. Colnaghi when the / small figure near the child appeared _ this / Mr. Cheney thinks was not part of the design / & purposely rubbed over _ "I Pentimenti" in the / Childs head then appeared also _ Mr. Colnaghi / remarked upon three styles of Masters studied by / Battista Franco - Michael Angelo Raphael & Parmigiano / in this fine Drawing - ; FRAGMENT OF OLD MOUNT (now removed), in brown ink: Battista Franco. ; FRAGMENT OF OLD MOUNT (now removed), in graphite: 1862 / NUDD ; in blue ballpoint: J. RICHARDSON SEN~ / EARL SPENCER ; FRAGMENT OF OLD MOUNT (now removed), in black ink: 1510. - GIOV: BAT: FRANCO. - 1580. [underlined] ; FRAGMENT OF OLD MOUNT (now removed), in black ballpoint: Franco ; VERSO, in graphite: 240 ; FRAGMENT OF OLD MOUNT (now removed), in black ballpoint: Franco ; VERSO, in graphite: 60 [crossed out] ; 45 ^
citations
citation
Richards, Louise S. “Drawings by Battista Franco.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 52, no. 8 (October 1965): 106–112.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 106-107
citation
Barocci, Federigo, and Luca Baroni. Barocci ritrovato: il restauro del Martirio di san Sebastiano. Milano, Italia : Officina libraria, 2020.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 32-33, fig. 14
citation
Baroni, Luca. "Two New Early Drawings by Federico Barocci in the Louvre and in the British Museum." <em>Artibus et Historiae : An Art Anthology</em> 90 (2024): 165-178.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 174; Reproduced: p. 172, fig. 10
creditline
Delia E. Holden Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:16:19.095000
sourceId
141560
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - Italian
med
pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash with red chalk underdrawing, heightened with white gouache (partially tarnished); pricked (lower part of Virgin)
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
3612479b0351e4d3