Simone Cantarini (Oropezza 1612-1648 Verona)

A preparatory study for Cantarini's picture of Saint Peter healing the cripple, commissioned for the right wall of the cappella maggiore in the Church of S. Pietro in Valle, Fano. Andrea Emiliani has proposed a date circa 1639 for the picture, which is considered 'uno dei capolavori assoluti' of the artist (A. Emiliani, Simone Cantarini, detto il Pesarese, 1612-1648, Milan, 1997, p. 151). Another compositional study for the painting, also in red chalk and focusing on the interaction between Saint Peter and the man being healed, is in the Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan (inv. 517). The Milan drawing may belong to a slightly earlier stage in the compositional process than the present lot. The Milan sheet shows the composition in reverse, with the figures arranged in a diagonal formation from lower left to upper right; the present drawing, by contrast, shows the figures already arranged in the grouping that would be carried through to the finished painting, with the diagonal running from upper left to lower right, and a separate group, including a mother and child, on the right.