Giovanni Biliverti (Italian 1585-1644) Drawing

Artist: Giovanni Biliverti, (Italian 1585-1644).
Title: Saint Bernard of Clairvaux Holding the Cross.
Medium: Black chalk on laid paper.
Framed Size: Height 65.5 cm x Width 52.5 cm x Depth 6 cm.
Sheet Size: Height 35.4 cm x Width 22.4 cm.
Condition: This drawing is in a good condition commensurate with its age. There are some light marks on the top of the drawing and a small paper loss to the edge. The drawing has been hinged on all sides and is not mounted. Housed in a classic hardwood 19th-century frame, with acid-free conservation mats and backing board. It is glazed with anti-reflective invisible glass ArtGlass AR70.

Provenance:
Anonymous sale, Christie’s London, 6 July 1976, lot 22 (as the circle of Fra Bartolommeo).
Baron Paul Hatvany (1899-1977); his sale, Christie’s London 1980, 24 June, lot 23 (as Florentine School, circa 1600).
Professor Raymond E. Pahl, FBA, (1935-2011).
Crispian Rilely-Smith Fine Arts.
Private Collection London.

About: This drawing was previously catalogued as Circle of Fra Bartolommeo but has been recently re-attributed to Giovanni Biliverti, by Rick Scorza, the pre-eminent Art Historian & Renaissance Scholar. The drawing relates to a painting by Biliverti of the same subject, St Bernard of Clairvaux, that was formerly housed in the church of San Giusto dei Cappuccini, Pisa, side panel of the high altar.

It is believed this is a working drawing for the painting, as there are compositional differences but the overall direction of the drawing and the painting are harmonious. The re-attribution of this drawing to Biliverti was established in written communication from Rick Scorza to Crispian Riley-Smith, in 2007. There is a red chalk drawing verso and is possibly a counter-proof from another drawing within an album prior to the framing of the work.

Giovanni Biliverti was born the son of Delft-born goldsmith Jacques Bijlvert (1550-1603), who was appointed head of Francesco de’Medici’s workshop. Biliverti trained with Sienese painter Alessandro Casolani (1552/3-1607) in Siena before returning to Florence and joining the workshop of Ludovico Cardi, called Cigoli.

He became one of Cigoli’s chief assistants, and remained in his studio for some fifteen years, with Cigoli’s work heavily influencing Biliverti’s in terms of both draughtsmanship and composition. Approximately three hundred drawings by Biliverti survive, with the bulk of such being held in the Uffizi and the Louvre. Many of the existing drawings can be related to paintings by the artist.