Lot 111: Pietro Faccini (Bologna 1560-1602)

Pietro Faccini (Bologna 1560-1602)
A seated male youth, his torso bare
with inscription 'Coreggio'
red chalk, the top corners cut, watermark device
9 3/8 x 12 7/8 in. (23.7 x 33 cm.),

Sydney, Art Gallery of New South Wales, The James Fairfax Collection of Old Master Paintings, Drawings, and Prints, 17 April-20 July 2003, no. 21.

C. Legrand, Le dessin à Bologne, 1580-1620: la réforme des trois Carracci, exh. cat., Paris, Louvre, 1994, p. 101, under no. 66.
J. Goldman, 'A new attribution to Faccini', Antichità Viva, XXXV, nos. 2-3, December 1996, pp. 27-30.

Sir Joshua Reynolds (L.2364).
Possibly Major H.E. Morritt, Rokeby Park, Barnard Castle, Yorkshire, England, and by descent to
John Bacon Sawrey Morritt, Rokeby Park, and (presumably) by descent to Robin Morritt.
Ian Woodner, New York; Christie's, London, 2 July 1991, lot 105.
With Colnaghi, London, 1992, where purchased by
James Fairfax, Bowral, New South Wales.

THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR

Faccini was a contemporary of Annibale Carracci (1560-1609), and indeed received training at the Carracci Academy before opening his own art school in the late 1590s. He was influenced not just by the Carraccis' return to naturalism, but by the elegance of Correggio (1489-1534), who lived and worked two generations before the Bolognese artist. The inscription in the lower left shows that at one point the drawing was even believed to be by Correggio.

The figure in this drawing is actually after one by Correggio in the lower section of his fresco decorating the cupola of the Duomo at Parma. Faccini has adapted the young boy's pose - covering the lower part of his torso with fabric, making the composition look more like an Academy study. The soft, diffuse handling of the red chalk to render light and dark is beautifully demonstrated in the shadow cast by the boy's arm across his body. This use of the chalk to describe light and shadow is a distinctive feature of Faccini's draftsmanship.