Study for 'Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna...': Male Head

Drawing details

Title: Study for 'Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna...': Male Head
Date: 1853
Media: Pencil on paper
Dimensions: 19.4 x 15.4 cm
Location: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Picture credit: Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery
Reference number: 1935P527

Interpretation

A drawing in the Leighton House Museum collection shows a different view of the head of the same model, and was undoubtedly made at the same time (reference number LH2177). It is inscribed "Fra Giuseppe / Roma / 18 FL 53", which indicates that this drawing also shows the monk, Fra Giuseppe, and was also made in Rome. The Leighton House version was used as a study for the figure, dressed in black, wearing a red cap, immediately behind the Madonna and Child, in the painting 'Cimabue's Celebrated Madonna...' (c.1853-55, Royal Collection). The 1939 published catalogue of the collection of drawings at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery states that this drawing and another for the same subject made at around the same time (reference number 1935P28) were presented by the same donor and, in 1939, stored in the same mount.

Description

Study of a male head, with back to the viewer, turned to the left. The hair is curly and he has is a long beard and a moustache. He wears a skull cap and the collar of a coat is indicated. 

Provenance

Presented to Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery by T. Williams in 1935 

Bibliography

• Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Drawings in Pen, Pencil, Charcoal and Chalk, etc., including Cartoons for Stained Glass', Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, 1939, p.245