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Sienne) peinte en 1536 4 , et encore avec les panneaux<br />
représentants <strong>de</strong>s évangélistes réalisés pour<br />
la cathédrale <strong>de</strong> Pise en 1538.<br />
Les étu<strong>de</strong>s furent d’abord étudiées en groupe par<br />
D<strong>on</strong>ato Sanminiatelli en 1955 5 , dans un article<br />
publié dans le Burlingt<strong>on</strong> Magazine à la suite <strong>de</strong><br />
l’appariti<strong>on</strong> <strong>de</strong> neuf <strong>de</strong> ces étu<strong>de</strong>s dans la vente <strong>de</strong><br />
la collecti<strong>on</strong> HS Reitlinger à L<strong>on</strong>dres 6 . La plupart<br />
<strong>de</strong> ces dits bozzetti s<strong>on</strong>t <strong>de</strong>s étu<strong>de</strong>s <strong>de</strong> têtes ; <strong>on</strong><br />
en compte aujourd’hui une vingtaine, la plupart<br />
dans <strong>de</strong>s collecti<strong>on</strong>s publiques, mais il y a aussi<br />
quelques étu<strong>de</strong>s <strong>de</strong> figures 7 . Sanminiatelli a souligné<br />
l’importance <strong>de</strong> ces œuvres dans le corpus<br />
<strong>de</strong> Beccafumi, leur caractère excepti<strong>on</strong>nel dans le<br />
c<strong>on</strong>texte <strong>de</strong> cette époque et leurs qualités propres,<br />
la faç<strong>on</strong> d<strong>on</strong>t les têtes émergent <strong>de</strong> l’obscurité, la<br />
<str<strong>on</strong>g>sur</str<strong>on</strong>g>prenante liberté du mo<strong>de</strong>lé. Avec les neuf étu<strong>de</strong>s<br />
<strong>de</strong> la collecti<strong>on</strong> H.S. Reitlinger, Sanminiatelli énumère<br />
<strong>de</strong>ux autres au Fogg Museum <strong>de</strong> Cambridge,<br />
<strong>de</strong>ux à Wiesba<strong>de</strong>n Neues Museum, qui avaient été<br />
d<strong>on</strong>nées au Kupferstichkabinett <strong>de</strong> Berlin par Vitale<br />
Bloch, une à l’université <strong>de</strong> Princet<strong>on</strong> et une <strong>de</strong>rnière<br />
à la Pierp<strong>on</strong>t Morgan Library <strong>de</strong> New York.<br />
Entre temps, quelques autres étu<strong>de</strong>s <strong>on</strong>t rejoint ce<br />
groupe, une tête d’homme chez <strong>Jean</strong>-<strong>Luc</strong> Bar<strong>on</strong>i en<br />
2010, <strong>de</strong>ux étu<strong>de</strong>s <strong>de</strong> têtes au Bright<strong>on</strong> Museum and<br />
Art Gallery 8 et une à la galerie Borghese <strong>de</strong> Rome<br />
(Inv. 453). Sanminiatelli s’était aligné <str<strong>on</strong>g>sur</str<strong>on</strong>g> le catalogue<br />
<strong>de</strong> 1940 du Fogg Art Museum 9 et c<strong>on</strong>sidérait<br />
leur technique comme étant <strong>de</strong> la tempera, mais en<br />
1990 Andrea <strong>de</strong> Marchi fit remarquer qu’il s’agissait<br />
en réalité d’huile, une technique d<strong>on</strong>t la fluidité et<br />
la solidité caractérisent bien la technique picturale<br />
<strong>de</strong> ce groupe. L’homogénéité <strong>de</strong> leur gran<strong>de</strong> qualité<br />
a été observée ainsi que le fait que Beccafumi ait<br />
utilisé la même technique pour s<strong>on</strong> excepti<strong>on</strong>nel<br />
autoportrait, c<strong>on</strong>servé aux Offices <strong>de</strong> Florence.<br />
Beaucoup <strong>de</strong> ces têtes, mais pas toutes, portent <strong>de</strong>s<br />
traces <strong>de</strong> stylet le l<strong>on</strong>g du profil, <strong>de</strong>s traits du visage<br />
et <strong>de</strong>s cheveux. Bien que ceci puisse suggérer<br />
qu’elles aient été utilisées comme cart<strong>on</strong> préparatoire,<br />
elles s<strong>on</strong>t souvent plus petites en taille que<br />
les figures peintes qui leur s<strong>on</strong>t reliées. Il semble<br />
très probable que les incisi<strong>on</strong>s soient en fait <strong>de</strong> rapi<strong>de</strong>s<br />
sgraffiti utilisés pour accentuer la structure et<br />
faire la mise en place <strong>de</strong> l’image. Dans notre étu<strong>de</strong>,<br />
à la place <strong>de</strong>s incisi<strong>on</strong>s, c’est une encre noire élégamment<br />
posée à la plume qui sert à délimiter<br />
les épaules, les c<strong>on</strong>tours du visage, <strong>de</strong>s narines,<br />
<strong>de</strong>s yeux et <strong>de</strong>s sourcils, <strong>de</strong>s cheveux. C’est le cas<br />
dans plusieurs autres étu<strong>de</strong>s, celle par exemple<br />
d’un Homme barbu <strong>de</strong> la collecti<strong>on</strong> Reitlinger,<br />
Kupferstichkabinett by Vitale Bloch, <strong>on</strong>e at Princet<strong>on</strong><br />
University Museum and <strong>on</strong>e in the Pierp<strong>on</strong>t Morgan<br />
Library, New York. In the intervening years a small<br />
number of further sketches has joined the group,<br />
<strong>on</strong>e head study with <strong>Jean</strong>-<strong>Luc</strong> Bar<strong>on</strong>i in 2010; two<br />
head studies discovered in the Bright<strong>on</strong> Museum<br />
and Art Gallery 8 and <strong>on</strong>e in the Galleria Borghese,<br />
Rome (Inv. 453). Sanminiatelli agreed with the<br />
1940 Fogg Art Museum catalogue’s analysis of the<br />
medium being tempera 9 but in 1990 they were re<strong>de</strong>scribed<br />
by Andrea <strong>de</strong> Marchi as being in oil, the<br />
fluid but substantial quality of which characterises<br />
the painterly technique evi<strong>de</strong>nt in the group. The<br />
uniformly high quality of the sketches has been<br />
noted as has the fact that Beccafumi used the same<br />
medium for his excepti<strong>on</strong>al self-portrait, now in the<br />
Uffizi.<br />
Many, but by no means all, of the head studies of<br />
this type have incised c<strong>on</strong>tours around the profiles<br />
and features and in the hair. Though this might<br />
suggest that the oil sketches were to be used as<br />
carto<strong>on</strong>s, they are often much smaller in size than<br />
their related frescoed figures and it is very likely that<br />
the incised marks are in fact a rapid form of sgraffito<br />
drawing used to emphasise the structure and set<br />
up the compositi<strong>on</strong>. In the present work, instead of<br />
being incised, the outlines of the nose, eyes, hair<br />
and face outlines are ma<strong>de</strong> with elegant lines of pen<br />
and black ink. This is the case for many other studies<br />
such as A Bear<strong>de</strong>d Man, formerly in the Reitlinger<br />
collecti<strong>on</strong> and now held in the Rikjsmuseum,<br />
Amsterdam (RP-T-1954-38). The <strong>de</strong>fining quality<br />
of all these sketches is their glowing light. This<br />
is created by the innovative manner in which<br />
Beccafumi mo<strong>de</strong>lled form, almost in m<strong>on</strong>ochrome,<br />
working from dark to light, the light created with<br />
a bold use of white which, as has been noticed by<br />
Hugo Chapman, ‘echoes the t<strong>on</strong>ality and sheen of<br />
marble’ 10 .<br />
If all the head studies known to date are related to<br />
works dated in 1527 and 1538, and can thus be<br />
placed within this period, this work is certainly<br />
earlier. Although the child’s c<strong>on</strong>torted pose is seen<br />
frequently in Beccafumi’s work, it is to the figure<br />
of the child Jesus in The Holy Family with the<br />
small Saint John and the Lamb (Fig. 1) preserved<br />
in the Palatine gallery of the Palazzo Pitti, Florence<br />
(painted between 1521 and 1522) that it appears to<br />
be c<strong>on</strong>nected. Despite a different inclinati<strong>on</strong> of the<br />
head, we see the same child’s hairstyle, placement<br />
of the shoul<strong>de</strong>rs and swollen face. A more vague<br />
c<strong>on</strong>necti<strong>on</strong>, based <strong>on</strong> general similarities in<br />
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