Deacon Saint (Stephen or Lawrence)

Deacon Saint (Stephen or Lawrence)

Jacopo Confortini

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Probably dating to the 1640-50s, this spirited, relatively finished study in red and very dense black chalk depicts the figure of a martyred deacon saint, who is either Saint Stephen or Saint Lawrence. It was probably intended for a devotional picture in half-length. The Florentine Confortini is one of the great virtuoso draftsmen of the two-chalk technique (red and black), which was frequently used by Florentine artists during the Baroque period. As with this example, Confortini's drawings exhibit a dazzling quality of movement, with nervous outlines and a staccato technique of hatching. The Metropolitan Museum of Art owns another boldly drawn figural sketch of a deacon saint by Confortini (Figure of a Cleric in Half-Length) with very similar scale and composition as the present sheet. Since certain important details of dress are identical, both drawings likely served as studies for the same painting, and together they represent the range of Confortini's draftsmanship and design process. (C.C.B.)

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Deacon Saint (Stephen or Lawrence)Deacon Saint (Stephen or Lawrence)Deacon Saint (Stephen or Lawrence)Deacon Saint (Stephen or Lawrence)Deacon Saint (Stephen or Lawrence)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.