Domenico Mona (Ferrara 1550-1602 Parma)

First recognized as a drawing by Domenico Mona by Philip Pouncey, this is one of the very few securely attributed sheets by the Ferrarese artist. As observed by Pouncey, it is a study for one of the monumental pictures in the choir of Santa Maria in Vado in Ferrara, generally considered one of the artist’s most important pictures (see M. Matile, 'Quadri laterali' im sakralen Kontext. Studien und Materialien zur Historienmalerei in venezianischen Kirchen und Kapellen des Cinquecento, Munich, 1997, pp. 156-157, figs. 196-197). Mona received the commission for the painting in 1581 and it was installed the following year. Responding to the large space reserved for the painting, Mona has extended the sheet by a third at the top allowing him to prepare the picture for this format. Despite the fact that the artist is not known to have worked in Venice (Mona was a pupil of the Ferrarese painter Giuseppe Mazzuoli), the style and technique of the present drawing seem to reveal a strong Venetian influence, and particularly that of Jacopo Tintoretto, explaining the early attribution of the drawing.