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cha pas <strong>de</strong> décorer la voûte octog<strong>on</strong>ale <strong>de</strong> la Sacristie<br />
<strong>de</strong> la Cure <strong>de</strong> la Sainte-Mais<strong>on</strong> <strong>de</strong> Loreto ni <strong>de</strong><br />
participer en 1482 au grand chantier <strong>de</strong> la chapelle<br />
Sixtine à Rome, où il réalisa avec Bartolomeo <strong>de</strong>lla<br />
Gatta Le Testament et la mort <strong>de</strong> Moïse.<br />
C’est d<strong>on</strong>c en pleine possessi<strong>on</strong> <strong>de</strong> ses moyens artistiques<br />
et dans une phase ascendante <strong>de</strong> sa carrière<br />
que Signorelli se trouve à Florence vers 1490, où il<br />
entre en c<strong>on</strong>tact avec le milieu <strong>de</strong> l’Académie plat<strong>on</strong>icienne.<br />
Pour Laurent le Magnifique ou pour s<strong>on</strong><br />
cousin Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, mécène éclairé et<br />
commanditaire du Printemps <strong>de</strong> Botticelli, il peint<br />
la célèbre Éducati<strong>on</strong> <strong>de</strong> Pan (autrefois à Berlin, au<br />
Kaiser Friedrich Museum et détruite en 1945) et la<br />
Vierge à l’enfant avec <strong>de</strong>s ignudi (Florence, musée<br />
<strong>de</strong>s Offices). À Volterra, autre cité médicéenne, il<br />
peint la même année La Circ<strong>on</strong>cisi<strong>on</strong>, <strong>de</strong> laquelle<br />
<strong>on</strong> peut rapprocher notre <strong>de</strong>ssin, mais également<br />
L’Ann<strong>on</strong>ciati<strong>on</strong> et La Vierge en trône avec <strong>de</strong>s saints<br />
(Volterra, Pincoteca). Après la mort <strong>de</strong> Laurent le<br />
Magnifique en 1492 et la chute <strong>de</strong> Piero <strong>de</strong>’ Medici,<br />
Signorelli perd ses appuis et quitte la ville<br />
au profit <strong>de</strong> l’Ombrie, <strong>de</strong>s Marches et du couvent<br />
<strong>de</strong> M<strong>on</strong>te Oliveto près <strong>de</strong> Sienne où il peint <strong>de</strong>s<br />
fresques relatives à la vie <strong>de</strong> saint Benoît. Après ce<br />
cycle célèbre, complété par Giovanni Ant<strong>on</strong>io Bazzi,<br />
dit Le Sodoma, c’est principalement dans la ville<br />
d’Orvieto qu’il laissera ses grands chefs d’œuvre, à<br />
la chapelle <strong>de</strong> San Brizio ainsi qu’à Cort<strong>on</strong>e avec la<br />
Lamentati<strong>on</strong> <str<strong>on</strong>g>sur</str<strong>on</strong>g> le Christ mort.<br />
Cette feuille spectaculaire fait partie <strong>de</strong>s rares <strong>de</strong>ssins<br />
<strong>de</strong> Signorelli encore en mains privées. Les œuvres<br />
graphiques <strong>de</strong> <strong>Luc</strong>a Signorelli s<strong>on</strong>t relativement peu<br />
ab<strong>on</strong>dantes dans les musées, par rapport aux f<strong>on</strong>ds<br />
d’autres artistes <strong>de</strong> la Renaissance. Les Offices possè<strong>de</strong>nt<br />
le groupe c<strong>on</strong>stitué le plus anciennement,<br />
envir<strong>on</strong> 14 œuvres provenant <strong>de</strong>s collecti<strong>on</strong>s médicéennes<br />
(incluant quelques feuilles <strong>de</strong>s élèves).<br />
Le Louvre en possè<strong>de</strong> moins d’une dizaine, acquis<br />
auprès <strong>de</strong> Baldinucci en 1806. Le British Museum<br />
en possè<strong>de</strong> une quinzaine, autrefois chez sir Thomas<br />
Lawrence pour certains ou dans la collecti<strong>on</strong><br />
Viti-Antaldi pour d’autres. On en trouve quelques<br />
autres disséminées dans différents musées, à Rotterdam,<br />
au Metropolitan Museum, au Nati<strong>on</strong>almuseum<br />
Stockholm, à Windsor Castle, à Bay<strong>on</strong>ne ou<br />
à Berlin. Elles s<strong>on</strong>t plus rares encore <str<strong>on</strong>g>sur</str<strong>on</strong>g> le marché,<br />
qui en a vu passer moins d’une dizaine.<br />
Toutes ces œuvres, majoritairement <strong>de</strong>s étu<strong>de</strong>s <strong>de</strong><br />
figures, dém<strong>on</strong>trent que l’intérêt majeur <strong>de</strong> Signorelli<br />
en matière graphique est l’étu<strong>de</strong> <strong>de</strong> la forme<br />
humaine, sans préoccupati<strong>on</strong> pour s<strong>on</strong> envir<strong>on</strong>nepublic<br />
offices there, but this did not prevent him<br />
from <strong>de</strong>corating <strong>on</strong>e of the sacristies – Sagrestia <strong>de</strong>lla<br />
Cura – in the Santa Casa di Loreto, the Holy House<br />
of Loreto. Invited to participate in the grand Sistine<br />
Chapel project, Signorelli went to Rome where he<br />
remained for a few years and produced the Testament<br />
and Death of Moses with Bartolomeo <strong>de</strong>lla Gatta.<br />
Around 1490, at the height of his artistic abilities<br />
with his career growing in strength, Signorelli found<br />
himself in Florence where he came into c<strong>on</strong>tact<br />
with the Florentine Neoplat<strong>on</strong>ic Aca<strong>de</strong>my. It was<br />
here that he painted the famous Educati<strong>on</strong> of Pan<br />
(formerly in Berlin, at the Kaiser Friedrich Museum,<br />
<strong>de</strong>stroyed in 1945) and Mad<strong>on</strong>na and Child with<br />
Ignudi (Florence, Uffizi Gallery) commissi<strong>on</strong>ed<br />
by either Lorenzo the Magnificent or his cousin<br />
Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco, an enlightened patr<strong>on</strong> and<br />
the sp<strong>on</strong>sor of Botticelli’s Spring. In the same year in<br />
Volterra, another city un<strong>de</strong>r Medici rule, Signorelli<br />
painted The Circumcisi<strong>on</strong> to which the present<br />
drawing is related and also The Annunciati<strong>on</strong> and The<br />
Virgin Enthr<strong>on</strong>ed with Saints (Volterra, Pinacoteca).<br />
After the <strong>de</strong>ath of Lorenzo the Magnificent in 1492<br />
and the fall of Piero <strong>de</strong>’ Medici, Signorelli’s support<br />
in Florence waned and he left the city for Umbria,<br />
Marche and the c<strong>on</strong>vent of M<strong>on</strong>te Oliveto near<br />
Siena where he painted frescoes of scenes from the<br />
life of Saint Benedict. Following this famous cycle,<br />
which was later completed by Giovanni Ant<strong>on</strong>io<br />
Bazzi, better known as Il Sodoma, Signorelli left<br />
most of his great masterpieces in the city of Orvieto<br />
in the chapel of San Brizio, and in Cort<strong>on</strong>a, where<br />
he painted the Lamentati<strong>on</strong> over the Dead Christ.<br />
This spectacular sheet is <strong>on</strong>e of the few Signorelli<br />
drawings still in private hands. Signorelli’s graphic<br />
works are relatively rare in comparis<strong>on</strong> to museum<br />
holdings of other Renaissance artists. The Uffizi<br />
possesses the earliest assembled group: nearly 14<br />
works from the Medici collecti<strong>on</strong>s (including some<br />
sheets by his stu<strong>de</strong>nts). The Louvre owns less than a<br />
dozen drawings acquired from Baldinucci in 1806.<br />
There are nearly 15 sheets in the British Museum,<br />
some of which were formerly in Sir Thomas<br />
Lawrence’s collecti<strong>on</strong> and some in the Viti-Antaldi<br />
collecti<strong>on</strong>. A few other works are scattered across<br />
various museums, such as the Rotterdam museum,<br />
the Metropolitan Museum, the Nati<strong>on</strong>al Museum<br />
of Stockholm, Windsor Castle, and the museums of<br />
Bay<strong>on</strong>ne and Berlin. They are even har<strong>de</strong>r to find <strong>on</strong><br />
the art market, where <strong>on</strong>ly ten works have <str<strong>on</strong>g>sur</str<strong>on</strong>g>faced.<br />
All these works that are mostly figure studies, prove<br />
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