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Giovanni LANFRANCO (Parma, 1582-Rome, 1647)
St. Paul walking on water, saved by Christ
c. 1625
© R.M.N.
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Giovanni LANFRANCO (Parma, 1582-Rome, 1647)
St. Paul walking on water, saved by Christ
c. 1625
Pen and brown ink; brown wash on red chalk; grid marked in red chalk
H. 31.4 cm; W. 22.4 cm
Pierre Crozat Collection; sold, Paris, April 10-May 13, 1741, part of no. 394; Antoine-Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville Collection; sold, Paris, January 18-28, 1779, part of no. 114; Charles-Paul Jean-Baptiste de Bourgevin Vialart de Saint-Morys Collection; French Revolution confiscations, 1793, entered the Museum Collections 1796-1797
INV6312
Prints and Drawings
Bottom left in pen and brown ink: gravé par aquilla; bottom center, in the hand of Dezallier d'Argenville in pen and ink: Cav. Lanfranco.
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St. Paul walking on water, saved by Christ |
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On the request of Pope Urban VIII in 1625, Lanfranco undertook a fresco painting for the altarpiece of Saint Peter's in Rome: Christ Saving Peter from the Water. This fresco, known as "La Navicella," replaced a previous work on the same theme by the Genovese artist Bernardo Castello. The painting, of which only the lower part survives (Vatican Pinacoteca), was preceded by numerous preparatory drawings and served as a model for engravers (Francesco Faraone Aquila, 1690; Nicolas Dorigny, 1699).
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Irreplaceable drawings
Finished in September 1628, the fresco was enormous, reaching seven and a half meters in height. After being damaged in two successive restorations, it was finally replaced by a mosaic in 1721. The composition was prepared by two ensemble studies of identical technique (Louvre; Albertine Museum, Vienna) as well as several black chalk detail studies of Christ and the apostles (Museo e Gallerie Nazionali di Capodimonte in Naples, museums in Madrid and Düsseldorf). The Louvre drawing is closest to the artist's original conception; here Lanfranco studies the composition of the ensemble scene, including the host of angels, while in the Vienna study he concentrates on the main scene of the boat hurled on the violent waves and the saving of Peter. Certain elements (practically identical) found in the fresco are present in the Louvre drawing, albeit in a more rapid form: dramatic effects of turning figures, clashing lines of movement, spontaneous expressions of emotion. The pictorial expressiveness of the work makes it one of the most remarkable examples of Lanfranco's art.
A well-prepared composition
While in the Vienna drawing Lanfranco used pen and ink to study the movements of his figures, here he chose pen and ink supplemented with color wash, thus displaying one of the freest aspects of his art. Forsaking all linear preparation for lively brushwork, he employs a subtle and tumbling play of unequally distributed strokes to suggest gestures and postures. The animation and rapidity of the movement, the rendering of emotion - John's fervor, Peter's despair - the involute composition, the dramatic and tumultuous ascension: these elements find more immediate expression here than in the Albertine drawing. In the right portion of the drawing, where the grid marking is absent, the artist depicts two apostles, one of whom lifts his arm in a gesture of despair - a gesture all the more expressive for the flying drapery of the figure's garment. These apostles are both present in a detailed study (Naples), while the tension of the Louvre drawing is heightened through inclusion of the flying drapery of the figure in profile situated behind Christ, and the greater attention given to the old man sketched to the figure's left. In the fresco, Lanfranco would opt for a more reserved solution, replacing the two figures with a single man, back to the viewer, turning to the left, and would keep the figure of the old man in full view.
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Bacou Roseline, Bean Jacob, Le Dessin à Rome au XVIIe siècle, 91e exposition du cabinet des Dessins, cat. exp. musée du Louvre, 24 mars-6 juin 1988, Paris, Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1988, n 87.Cordellier Dominique, Salvi Claudia, in La Politesse du goût : dessins de la collection Dezallier d'Argenville, cat. exp. musée du Louvre, 6 juin-25 août 1997, Paris, Éditions de la Réunion des musées nationaux, 1997, p. 8.Kessler Leslie Brown, Lanfranco and Domenichino : the Concept of Style in the early Development of Baroque Painting in Rome, Michigan, Ann Arbor, UMI, 1998.Loisel Catherine, in Les Cieux en gloire, paradis en trompe-l'oeil pour la Rome baroque : "bozzetti", "modelli", "ricordi" et "memorie", cat. exp. musée Fesch, 17 mai-30 septembre 2002 [catalogue par Jean-Marc Olivesi, Maurizio Fagiolo dell'Arco, Béatrice Sarrazin et al.], Ajaccio, musée Fesch, Impr. moderne de l'Est, n 25.Pagano Denise Maria, In paradiso : gli affreschi del Lanfranco della Cappella del Tesoro di San Gennaro, Naples, Electa, 1996.Schleier Erich, Disegni di Giovanni Lanfranco (1582-1647), cat. exp. Florence, musée des Offices, 1983, Florence, Éditions L. S. Olschki, 1983, n XXIVa.Schleier Erich, Giovanni Lanfranco : un pittore barocco tra Parma, Roma e Napoli, cat. exp. Parme, Reggia di Colorno, 8 septembre-2 décembre 2001 ; Naples, Castel Sant'Elmo, 21 décembre 2001-24 février 2002 ; Rome, Palazzo Venezia, 16 mars-16 juin 2002, Milan, Electa, 2001 ; n D27.Wiligelmo e Lanfranco nell'Europa romanica : atti del convegno, Modène, 24-27 octobre 1985, Modène, Éditions Panini, 1989.
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Prints and Drawings : 
