PIETRO DA CORTONA (ATTRIBUTED TO) (Cortona 1596-1669

PIETRO DA CORTONA (ATTRIBUTED TO)
(Cortona 1596-1669 Rome)
Study for the History of Justinian.
Black and white chalk on cream laid paper with a prepared gray wash ground. 260x395 mm; 10¼x15½ inches. Inscribed in ink and chalk, lower center recto.Provenance: Private collection, Massachusetts.Likely a study for the fresco of the same subject in the Sala di Apollo, Palazzo Pitti, Florence. Commissioned from Pietro da Cortona by Grand Duke Ferdinand II de’ Medici, the decoration of the Sala di Apollo went through a long gestation. Begun in 1642-43, when the artist designed and frescoed the figures from the main group (Apollo, Ferdinand II, Fame and Hercules), it was left unfinished upon his departure for Rome in 1647. Responding belatedly to the Grand Duke’s persistent requests to continue the work, twelve years later, in the fall of 1659, Cortona sent his best pupil Ciro Ferri, who completed the frescoes with the aid of drawings and cartoons executed by his master in Rome.