Madonna with the Christ Child

Author: Klazina Botke

The Virgin looks tenderly at the Christ Child, who is kneeling in her lap, holding her left arm and feeding from her breast. This intimate scene entered the collection as a work by Parmigianino (Francesco Mazzola, 1503-1540).^[1] Although Arthur Popham did not see a clear connection between this drawing and other works by the artist, in 1971 he included the sheet in Parmigianino’s catalogue raisonné.^[2] According to Popham, the figure of the Virgin corresponds in a few respects with the Virgin in The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine (c.1527-1530) (for which there is a preliminary study in Florence) and our drawing was possibly produced during the same period.^[3] The many loose red chalk lines, such as those in the Virgin’s robe and around her right leg, look more untidy than those in Parmigianino’s studies, particularly when compared with a similar composition in Edinburgh.^[4] For this reason, Nicholas Turner and Mario di Giampaolo tentatively proposed the name of Lattanzio Gambara (c. 1530-1573/1574) in 1978. They linked the drawing to a study in Oxford that according to them displays similarities in both composition and style.^[5] Yet their attribution is not completely convincing. As a rule, Gambara’s figure studies have stronger clearer outlines and the shadows are drawn with broad diagonal hatching, as can be seen clearly in a study in New York.^[6]

There is a copy of our drawing in the Rosaspina Album in London (fig.).^[7] This album, printed in Bologna in the 1790s, contains 606 etchings by Francesco Rosaspina (1762-1841), in different states and in different ink colours, almost all of which are after drawings by Parmigianino.^[8] Among them there are also sheets that have subsequently been lost.^[9] In the etching after our sheet, made in the crayon manner to imitate the technique of red chalk, the artist slightly adjusted some details such as the shape of a mouth or shading around the figures. He did that often and it is also clear to see in his print after Parmigianino’s drawing of the portrait of Charles V in New York.^[10] Some of the prints in the Rosaspina Album bear the inscription ‘Dal Gabinetto del Sig. Giovanni Antonio Armano Veneto’ (From the Cabinet of Mr Giovanni Antonio Armano Veneto).^[11] This means that Armano (1777-1823), a well-known Venetian dealer and collector, had the etchings made after drawings from his private collection. It is highly likely that Rosaspina also saw our sheet here, particularly since we know that Armano’s Parmigianino drawings originated from the collection of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (1585-1646) and some of them ended up later with Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830).^[12] His collector’s mark is on our sheet at bottom left.^[13]

Based on the work’s provenance and Popham’s findings, the study is now attributed to Parmigianino, but because of the work’s slightly different style, it may also be a study from the artist’s circle. The drawing is furthermore no longer in good condition. At some point the two figures were cut out of the composition and later on mounted again on a rectangular sheet. Two large tears are visible on the left-hand side of the drawing, and red chalk has been used to fill some lost areas.