Cesare Franchi, called IL POLLINO (Pérouse, v.1580 - Rome, 1615)

Cesare Franchi, called Il Pollino (Perugia, c.1580 – Rome, 1615)
The Holy Family accompanied by putti
Red chalk, pen and brown ink wash – 13 × 19.7 cm
17th-century frame – 27.5 × 36.7 cm

Provenance:
- Hans Fürstenberg (1890–1982), Berlin, Paris, London and Geneva (L. 3615)
- Dessins Anciens, Geneva, 18–19 June 1962, sale at Nicolas Rauch S.A., p. 70, lot 335 (illustrated in the catalogue)
- Sotheby’s, London, 9 July 1981, lot 109
- Nissman, Abromson & Co., Master Drawings 1500–1900, New York, 1992, no. 7 (illustrated)

Literature:
- M. Di Giampaolo, “Cesare Franchi dit Le Pollino. Variations sur le thème de la Sainte Famille,” in Disegno, Conference proceedings, Rennes, 1991, p. 21, fig. 5 (illustrated)
- M. Di Giampaolo, “Seguaci: Cesare Franchi detto il Pollino,” in Nel Segno di Barocci. Allievi e seguaci tra Marche, Umbria, Siena, Milan, 2005, p. 313, fig. 3 (illustrated)
- S. Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, “Pollino: i disegni” in D. K. Marignoli, Cesare Franchi detto il Pollino miniatore (ca. 1555–1595), Rome, 2020, p. 47 (cited)

Our sheet belongs to the first group of drawings by Pollino identified by Philipp Pouncey, to whom we owe the rediscovery of the graphic oeuvre of this virtuoso draftsman, whom the great Federico Zeri (1921–1998) described as “one of the pinnacles of figurative art in the sixteenth century.”

Characteristic of Pollino’s style—at once suave and powerful, robust and dance-like—the artist here unfolds his contrasting brand of Mannerism, both highly personal and deeply referential, oscillating between Barocci, Michelangelo, and Van Heemskerck.

Full description available on demand.