Designed by the brilliant but tormented architect Francesco Borromini, Sant’Agnese, on the Piazza Navona, is among the most celebrated Baroque churches in Rome. In 1670 Ciro Ferri was commissioned to paint the 'cupola' (dome), but work dragged on and was interrupted by his death in 1689. Hoping to procure this prestigious commission, Baciccio submitted a sketch for the ceiling fresco, which was to represent the Virgin presenting Saint Agnes to the Trinity in the presence of the Heavenly Host (this 'bozzetto' is now in the Kunstmuseum, Düsseldorf). This detailed and carefully executed drawing records his design for part of that ambitious composition, which was ultimately realized by Sebastiano Corbellini, a mediocre follower of Ciro Ferri, Baciccio's effort having been in vain.
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Title:Prophets, Patriarchs, Saints, and Music-Making Angels in Glory
Artist:Giovanni Battista Gaulli (Il Baciccio) (Italian, Genoa 1639–1709 Rome)
Date:1639–1709
Medium:Pen and brown ink, brush and gray wash, over black chalk
Dimensions:16-1/4 x 20-13/16 in. (41.3 x 52.8 cm)
Classification:Drawings
Credit Line:The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1961
Accession Number:61.178.1
Inscription: Several illegible, erased annotations at lower border; old annotation on edge of mount recto extending below composition: Bacciccio B / M; annotated in pen and brown ink on part of old backing, old inscription partly legible as: A...Gauli...[sic}; various dealers' numbers are in graphite on backing.
Marking: Mark of Antonio Barboza? is on the lower right recto in red (Lugt 77).
Antonio Barboza; Rockman Prints
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Roman Artists of the 17th Century: Drawings and Prints (Athens and New York)," November 2, 1976–January 16, 1977.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Genoa: Drawings and Prints, 1530–1800," April 23–July 10, 1996.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Drawings and Prints: Selections from the Permanent Collection," July 13–October 4, 2009.
Dieter Graf "Giovanni Battista Gaullis Olskizzen im Kunstmuseum Düsseldorf" in Pantheon. vol. 31, no. 2, Düsseldorf, 1973, fig. no. 27, p. 175, ill.
Major Themes in Roman Baroque Art from Regional Collections. Exh. cat., Mead Art Building, Amherst College. Five College Roman Baroque Festival, Amherst, 1974, cat. no. 10.
Jacob Bean Patterns of Collecting: Selected Acquisitions, 1965-1975. Explanatory texts accompanying an exhibition. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975.
Dieter Graf "Handzeichnungen, Die Handzeichnungen von Guglielmo Cortese und Giovanni Battista Gaulli." Kataloge des Kunstmuseums Düsseldorf. vols. 1, 2, Düsseldorf, 1976, I, p. 111.
Jacob Bean (but catalogue not signed), The Metropolitan Museum of Art Roman Artists of the 17th Century: Drawings and Prints. Exh. cat., The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 1976, n.p.
Jacob Bean, Lawrence Turčić 17th century Italian Drawings in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1979, cat. no. 223, fig. no. 223, pp. 170-71, ill.
Mary Newcome-Schleier, Catherine Monbeig Goguel Le dessin à Gênes du XVIe au XVIIIe siècle. Exh. cat., Paris, Cabinet des Dessins, Musée du Louvre. Paris, 1985, p. 108.
Carmen C. Bambach, Nadine Orenstein, William M. Griswold, Allegra Pesenti Genoa: Drawings and Prints, 1530-1800 Exh. cat. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 1996, cat. no. 84, p. 74.
Dieter Graf, Maurizio Fagiolo dell'Arco, Francesco Petrucci Giovanni Battista Gaulli: il Baciccio, 1639-1709 Exh. cat., Palazzo Chigi, Museo del Barocco, Ariccia. Milan, 1999, pp. 131, 33.
Francesco Petrucci Baciccio. Giovan Battista Gaulli 1639-1709. Rome, Ugo Bozzi Editore, 2009, pp. 365, 502, fig. 341.
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The Met's collection of drawings and prints—one of the most comprehensive and distinguished of its kind in the world—began with a gift of 670 works from Cornelius Vanderbilt, a Museum trustee, in 1880.
