A selection of master drawings 2016

preparatory work for a fresco in the lodge of Palazzo
Ruggeri, in Rome (ca. 1591) to which the Beheading can
be close to chronologically 4 . Thus, the figure of Salome,
who “leaps” on tiptoe towards the front of the picture,
is reminiscent of Judith with the head of Holofernes, the
protagonist of an early print by Cherubino 5 .
Our Beheading, whose charm lies in the clear
incompleteness of the work, allows us to follow Alberti
in the creative process of designing the image, which was
perhaps intended to be translated into print form or into
a painting for a decorative section of a larger cycle.
1 In the volume of drawings by the Alberti family held at the
Istituto Centrale per la Grafica and more generally, with regards
to the drawings by Cherubino, Giovanni and Alessandro see:
Disegni degli Alberti, exhibition catalogue by K. Hermann Fiore,
Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale delle Stampe, 25th November 1983
– 2nd January 1984.
2 Rome, Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Inv. FN 2934; pen,
brown ink, 241 x 171 mm. Cf. Disegni degli Alberti, exhibition
catalogue by K. Hermann Fiore, Rome, Gabinetto Nazionale
delle Stampe, 25 th November 1983 – 2 nd January 1984, pp. 146-
147, cat. 87.
3 Rome, Istituto Centrale per la Grafica, Inv. FN 2882.
4 London, British Museum, Inv. 1965,1203.1, pen, brown ink,
light blue washes, 161 x 206 mm; the drawing is published
and discussed in relation to the fresco (probably the work of a
collaborator) in: K. Hermann Fiore, Studi sui disegni di figure di
Giovanni e Cherubino Alberti, in “Bollettino d’arte”, 65, 1980, 5,
p. 41, fig. 2.
5 See: R. Manescalchi, Cherubino Alberti: la luce incisa, Florence,
2007, p. 38, cat. 6.