CESARE NEBBIA (CIRCLE OF)

(Orvieto 1536-1614 Orvieto)
Ecce Homo.

Pen and brown ink over black and red chalk on cream laid paper. 306x227; 12 1/8x9 inches. Ex-collection Francesco Dubini (Lugt 987a, upper left recto). Squared in red chalk recto and with black chalk verso for transfer.

Rhoda Eitel-Porter places the current drawing in the circle of Cesare Nebbia. She points out that the drawing relates to 2 commissions executed by Nebbia of the same subject, both from 1575-76--in the Oratorio del Gonfalone in Rome and the Cathedral of Orvieto (the latter fresco has been destroyed). While the current drawing, unlike the 2 mentioned frescoes which view the scene from the left side, presents a frontal view of the composition, it clearly uses the same structural disposition as well as individual elements present in Nebbia's works. Most likely the current drawing was executed in preparation of an independent commission. It is an interesting document for the transfer of design ideas among artists engaged in parallel commissions.