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Seated Apostles and Putti

1637–38
Not on view
One of Lanfranco's major commissions in Naples were the frescoes painted in 1637-38 on the rib-vault of the nave in the church of the Certosa di San Martino. In the circular compartments along the center of the vault, Lanfranco painted Christ appearing in a glory of angels, and in the triangular compartments above the windows groups of apostles, prophets, sibyls, and putti. Walter Vitzthum identified in this drawing a scheme for one of these triangular compartments. The broad-based triangular composition takes into consideration the whole area to be painted, while the faint red chalk indications of a narrower triangle suggest the area of the steeply rising vault that would be visible to the viewer standing directly below. Not only are Lanfranco's cloud-seated figures in this drawing, as in the fresco, strikingly Correggesque, but the handling of the red chalk reveals as well Lanfranco's early Emilian traning. Two drawings for a first overall scheme for the Certosa vault were identified by Hermann Voss in the Teylers Museum at Haarlem.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Seated Apostles and Putti
  • Artist: Giovanni Lanfranco (Italian, Parma 1582–1647 Rome)
  • Date: 1637–38
  • Medium: Red chalk
  • Dimensions: 5 3/16 x 9 5/8in. (13.1 x 24.5cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1965
  • Object Number: 65.66.6
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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A Roman general haranguing his troops from a platform, holding a laurel wreath
Giovanni Lanfranco
ca. 1640
A triumphal procession of a Roman emperor, riding in a carriage at center, with captive kings at right
Giovanni Lanfranco
Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi
ca. 1640
Seated Draped Male Figure (recto); Rough Studies of Putti (verso), Giovanni Lanfranco Italian, Black chalk, faint traces of white on gray-blue paper (recto); black chalk (verso)
Seated Draped Male Figure (recto); Rough Studies of Putti (verso)
Giovanni Lanfranco
1582–1647
Male Figure Running, Giovanni Lanfranco Italian, Pen and brown ink
Male Figure Running
Giovanni Lanfranco
1582–1647
Putti and a Young Satyr at Play, Giovanni Lanfranco Italian, Red chalk
Putti and a Young Satyr at Play
Giovanni Lanfranco
1582–1647

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