Lot 53: * BIAGIO PUPINI ACTIVE BOLOGNA CIRCA 1511 - 1575

THE BIRTH OF THE VIRGIN

measurements note
262 by 202mm; 10 5/16 by 8in

oil on vellum

NOTE

The composition of this scene is derived, with some differences, from a drawing by Gian Francesco Penni in the Cabinet des Estampes, Brussels, which was later engraved by Cornelis Cort (see J.C.J. Bierens de Haan, L'Oeuvre Gravé de Cornelis Cort, The Hague 1948, p. 45, cat. no. 20, plate 6, as F. Zuccaro). Another autograph version by Pupini, in black chalk and brown wash on blue paper, was sold New York, Sotheby's, 19 January 1989, lot 244. The artist also returned to the subject on several other occasions, but using a different design, in drawings in Florence, Biblioteca Marucelliana (see Disegni e Incisioni della Raccolta Marucelliana, Florence 1983/1984, no. 155) and Paris, Louvre, Cabinet des Dessins (inv. no. 8840).