Group of Nine Standing Figures

Prints and Drawings

1524/27

Francesco Mazzola, called Parmigianino
Italian, 1503-1540

This drawing exemplifies the style Parmigianino developed after his stay in Rome (1524–27), where he would have been exposed to Raphael’s frescoes in the Vatican. It may be a preparatory drawing for a painting of a religious subject; the composition has been linked to the Marriage of the Virgin and a representation of six apostles. Parmigianino’s image has been copied many times by other artists, including Count Antonio Maria Zanetti, who bought this and other drawings by Parmigianino from the Earl of Arundel.

Status: Currently Off View
Department: Prints and Drawings

Artist: Parmigianino
Title: Group of Nine Standing Figures
Place: Italy (Artist's nationality)
Date: 1524–1527
Medium: Pen and brown ink and brush and brown wash, on tan laid paper, laid down on tan laid card
Inscriptions: Inscribed verso on mount, at left, in pen and brown ink (in A.M. Zanetti's hand): "e La stampa intagliata all'acqua / forte in Londra da Enrico Vander / Borcht da [questo] disegno, che era di / quelli dello studio famoso del X. Conte ' d'Arondell Inglese"; at center left, in graphite: "Parmigianino"; at lower left, in graphite: "S. Woodburn"
Dimensions: 12.4 × 13.1 cm (4 15/16 × 5 3/16 in.)
Credit Line: Margaret Day Blake Collection
Reference Number: 1978.275
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Antonio Maria Zanetti, Raccolta di Varie Stampe a Chiaroscuro Trattate dai Disegni Originali di Francesco Mazzuola, Detto Il Parmigianino e d’Altri Insigni Autori da Anton Maria Zanetti, O. in Gir che gli stessi disegni possiede (Venice, 1749).
Arthur E. Popham, Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmigianino, I (New Haven, 1971), vol 1, p. 257, no. 94, vol. 2, pl. 202.
Harold Joachim, Italian Drawings of the 15th, 16th, and 17th Centuries in The Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago, 1979), p. 50, no. 2B4.
Suzanne Folds McCullagh and Laura M. Giles, Italian Drawings before 1600 in The Art Institute of Chicago: A Catalogue of the Collection (Chicago, 1997), p. 168-69, no. 217 (ill.).

Art Institute of Chicago, “151 Italian Drawings from the Art Institute,” 1979-1980, pp. 29-30, cat. 16, pl. 22, cat. by Harold Joachim and Suzanne Folds McCullagh; traveled to Washington, D.C., the National Gallery of Art.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Drawings Rediscovered: Italian Drawings before 1600 in The Art Institute of Chicago,” Apr. 12-June 22, 1997.
Art Institute of Chicago, “Strokes of Genius: Italian Drawings from the Goldman Collection,” Nov. 1, 2014-Feb. 1, 2015.

Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (1585-1646), England [inscription on mount]; by descent to his wife, Alethea Howard, Countess of Arundel (1585-1654) [McCullagh and Giles 1997]; by descent to her son, William Howard, Lord Stratford (1614-1680), Tart Hall, London; sold by his estate, Tart Hall (Stratford House), London, 1720 [McCullagh and Giles 1997]. Antonio Maria Zanetti (1680-1757), Venice [script (Lugt 2992f), verso, lower center on mount, in pen and brown ink]; by descent through three generations of the Zanetti family [Lugt 2992]; sold by the Zanetti family to Baron Dominique Vivant-Denon (1747-1825), Paris, in 1789 [stamp, (Lugt 779), recto, lower right, in black; McCullagh and Giles 1997]. Samuel Woodburn (1786-1853), London [see Lugt 2584; inscription]; sold, Christie’s, London, June 12-14, 1860. Charles Sackville Bale (1791-1880), London, [stamp (Lugt 640), verso, lower center on mount, in black]; sold, Christie’s, London, June 10, 1881, lot 2397, as “A Group of Seven Figures,” to Riggale [annotated sales catalogue]. Sold, Frederick Muller, Amsterdam, June 26, 1946, lot 862A. Sold by P. & D. Colnaghi and Company, London, to the Art Institute, 1978.

McCullagh & Giles 217

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