Art Institute of Chicago

An Angel in Flight

Giuseppe Cesari, called Il Cavaliere d’Arpino

Date

c. 1599-1600

Medium

Black chalk with red chalk on cream laid paper

Culture

Italy

Department

Prints and Drawings

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This drawing is a study for an angel in a fresco executed in the church of San Giovanni in Laterano, in Rome. Painstakingly modeled with fine lines of black chalk, the dynamic, muscular figure of the angel recalls Michelangelo’s monumental nudes created earlier in the century, while the androgynous features of his face are typical of the elegant style favored in the late 1500s. Considered a child prodigy by his contemporaries, Giuseppe Cesari became the head of the artists’ academy in Rome at the young age of 31. His busy workshop was a training ground for numerous pupils, the most notable of which was perhaps Caravaggio.

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