Recto: A male figure in vestments; a right hand. Verso: A male figure, half length; a male figure, three-quarter length c. 1608-10
Black chalk heightened with white chalk on blue paper | 34.5 x 21.4 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 900705
![Recto: A male figure in vestments; a right hand. Verso: A male figure, half length; a male figure, three-quarter length Recto: A male figure in vestments; a right hand. Verso: A male figure, half length; a male figure, three-quarter length](https://col.rct.uk/sites/default/files/styles/rctr-scale-1300-500/public/collection-online/a/f/1105950-1698669651.jpg?itok=q7H9ym22)
Domenichino (Bologna 1581-Naples 1641)
Recto: A male figure in vestments; a right hand. Verso: A male figure, half length; a male figure, three-quarter length c. 1608-10
![](https://col.rct.uk/sites/default/files/styles/rctr-scale-1300-500/public/collection-online/a/f/1105950-1698669651.jpg?itok=q7H9ym22)
![](https://col.rct.uk/sites/default/files/styles/rctr-scale-1300-500/public/collection-online/3/9/306288-1342456380.jpg?itok=YLpwE-IN)
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Recto: a drawing of a male figure, full length, standing in vestments; with a book in his covered left hand and a staff in his right hand; a right hand. Verso: a male figure, half length; a male figure, bending from the waist with a triangular block in his hands.
The drawings on the recto of this sheet are studies for the figure of St Gregory of Nyssa, one of the founding doctors and fathers of the Church represented in the niches of the attic level of the Chapel of SS. Nilus and Bartholomew, Grottaferrata. The drawing of the stooping figure on the verso is a study for the workman holding a block of masonary in the upper right corner of the fresco, The Building of the Abbey of Grottaferrata, part of the same fresco cycle, Grottaferrata.
This is one of 75 sheets of drawings related to the Grottaferrata fresco cycle, in the Royal Collection.Provenance
Bequeathed to Francesco Raspantino; Carlo Maratti, after 1664; from whom purchased by Clement XI, 1703; by whom bequeathed to his nephew, Alessandro Albani, 1721; from whom purchased by George III, 1762; first recorded in a Royal Collection inventory of c.1800-20
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
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Medium and techniques
Black chalk heightened with white chalk on blue paper
Measurements
34.5 x 21.4 cm (sheet of paper)
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
RL 705Alternative title(s)
St Gregory of Nyssa
Scenes from the legend of St Nilus and St Bartholomew
The building of the Abbey of Grottaferrata