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A YOUNG SHEPHERD SEATED ON A TREE TRUNK, THREE DOGS BESIDE HIM, FIGURES BEYOND AND HOUSES IN THE BACKGROUND

measurements note
335 by 188mm

bears inscription in pencil, verso: Niccoló dell' Abbate

black chalk with traces of white heightening, indented for transfer;
the verso blackened, and with some figure sketches

NOTE

We are grateful to Professor Giulio Bora who has informed us that this is a study by Giulio Campi for the left side of the apse in the church of Santa Margherita, Cremona, painted around 1547. A study representing The Adoration of the Shepherds, now in the British Museum (inv. no. 1951-11-8-14) was also identified by Professor Bora as Campi's preparatory study for the central section of the same apse, now very damaged (see I segni dell' arte, Il Cinquecento da Praga a Cremona, exhibition catalogue, Cremona, Museo Civico, 1997, pp. 248-9, reproduced). The strong stylistic influences of both Correggio and Parmigianino are very evident in both the British Museum drawing and the present sheet. Two other finished studies by Giulio connected with his decoration of the lateral walls of the nave in Santa Margherita are in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle (inv. nos. 1125, 1126). Though originally catalogued as anonymous Parma School works, these Windsor drawings were recognized as the work of Giulio Campi independently by both Philip Pouncey and Giulio Bora (see exhibition catalogue, Cremona 1997, op. cit., nos. 76 and 78).

The present drawing is a significant addition to this small group of finished compositional studies relating to the decoration of the whole church, an important commission which was entrusted to Giulio in 1547 when the church was reconstructed. The bishop of Alba, Marco Girolamo Vida, was responsible for the whole project and for the iconographic sequence of the frescoes, which are based on episodes from the life of Christ.