God on a cloud with angels.

Drawing, red chalk (sanguine), 26,2 x 37 cm, thick laid paper, unsigned (dark stain at angel on the left, diagonal fold to the right of God, several old repairs on verso, paper reinforced at lower and upper edge).

Under passe-partout.

God seated on clouds, surrounded by angels. He is shown with an open book which reads Alpha and Omega as a symbol of eternity. The drawing is based upon a larger painting by Fra Bartolommeo (1472-1517), the leading painter in Florence after the departure of Leonardo to Milan in 1482. His membership to the Dominican Order greatly affected his paintings which are imbued with a great nobility and calm. The original painting, which also included the sitting figures of Mary Magdalene and St. Catherine of Siena, was commissioned in 1507 by the monastery San Pietro Martire in Murano, near Venice, and is now to be admired in the Museo Nazionale di Villa Guinigi in Lucca. Although drawn by a gifted hand, the drawing is most likely made after the original painter, rather than a preparatory study from the painter's studio.
Prov. G. Vallardi (1784-1863), art dealer in Milan (stamp, Lugt 1223). - Albert Van Loock (stamp on verso, Lugt 3751).