Minneapolis Institute of Art

Saint Abdon and Saint Sennen Bury Christian Martyrs

Guglielmo CorteseLinkedCulture matchlcp-a827f0b83645

Date: 1653–57
Medium: Black chalk
Department: European Art
Institution: Minneapolis Institute of Art
Object ID: 109276

From the Minneapolis Institute of Art record

Inscribed with the name Giacinto Brandi, this drawing has long been considered the work of that 17th century Roman artist. Thanks to the careful research of the Brandi scholar Guendalina Serafinelli, we now know that this drawing was executed by Guglielmo Cortese (born Guillaume Cortois), a French artist active in Rome in the same years as Brandi. It is a preparatory sketch for Cortese's St. Abdon and St. Sennen Bury Christian Martyrs fresco in the church of San Marco in Rome. Cortese executed a series of frescoes for Niccolo Sagrèdo, Venetian ambassador to the Holy See, who undertook a major redecorating campaign in San Marco, the national Venetian church in Rome, between 1653 and 1657. A preliminary compositional sketch, this drawing shows the artist's thought process as he works out the placement for the arms and feet of the figures. With an extraordinary economy of line—just a few quickly drawn chalk strokes—Cortese masterfully describes the musculature and drapery of the figures. Italy, Europe

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Provenance & credit

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Credit line: Gift of the Joseph F. McCrindle Collection

Part of a LinkedCulture topic

18th-19th Century European Portrait Miniatures
These objects are predominantly portrait miniatures and small-scale portrait paintings from Central European and Russian courts, created between the 18th and 19th centuries using techniques such as watercolor on ivory, g
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