This drawing is a study for the figure of Saint Luke seated on the right in Siciolante’s altarpiece Virgin and child enthroned with saints and Matteo Malvezzi for the high altar in the church of San Martino Maggiore in Bologna, (fig. 1; see J. Hunter, op. cit., 1996, pl. 20). Signed and dated 1548, the painting was commissioned by Matteo Malvezzi, who, however, died before the painting was completed. His heirs transformed the altarpiece into his memorial by including his portrait and an inscription recounting his recent death.
A large compositional modello for the picture, attributed to Siciolante by Philip Pouncey in 1950, is in the Musée du Louvre, Paris (inv. 10.055; see Hunter, op. cit., 1996, no. 2, fig. 20) and documents an earlier stage of the composition where the donor is not represented. Executed with brown wash, the present sketch shows the same pose as does the Louvre modello and the final painting. The long-sleeved costume resembles the one in the Louvre study although it differs from that in the painting, where his sleeves are pushed up. The saint’s head is turned toward the viewer, unlike the pose in both the Louvre drawing and the painting, which suggests that the study for Saint Luke most likely preceded the Louvre sheet and may have been developed from a sketchy compositional study, which was then further refined in the modello.
Fig. 1. Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, Madonna and Child enthroned with Saints and the donor Matteo Malvezzi. Church of San Martino Maggiore, Bologna.