De apostel Bartholomeus, staand

493 Saint Bartholomew

Inv. no. F 011
Black chalk on off-white paper. Framing line in pencil. Slight stains.
345 x 217 mm
Inscribed, top left: St Bartolomeo Ap.o (black chalk)
Inv. 1854: B 40 (“[Carlo Maratti], Bartholomeus, dito”); inv. 1864: D 18
Provenance: Odescalchi; acquired for the Museum in 1790
(L. 2392)
Literature: Van Regteren Altena 1966, pp. 128-129.

From the same series as cat. no. 492 and a Christ recently on the art market; like our Matthew, the latter is similarly inscribed in pen and ink along the top (most recently New York, Sotheby’s, 31 January 2018, lot 158). There is no apparent connection withthe series of Apostles that Maratti painted for the Barberini (see Lo Bianco 2015), nor with his designs for the apostle statues in Saint John in Lateran that were commissioned in 1703 by Clement XI.
A similar drawing of an apostle, possibly also representing Matthew, is in Darmstadt (Hessisches Landesmuseum, inv. AE 1691, as Maratti).
An attribution to Maratti’s pupil Giuseppe Bartolomeo Chiari (1654-1727) may be considered in light of the meticulous, even application of the chalk.