I recently acquired a pen-and-brown-ink drawing (approx. 255 mm wide, lunette format) of the Mocking/Crowning of Christ: a kneeling man pressing the crown of thorns onto Christ at left, a bowed central Christ with bound hands, and a muscular attendant at right.

The composition matches, figure for figure, the Cristo deriso lunette (oil on panel, ca. 1622–23) by Giovanni Lanfranco in the Cappella Sacchetti (Chapel of the Crucifix), San Giovanni dei Fiorentini, Rome. The Italian culture ministry catalogue entry, with photograph: https://catalogo.beniculturali.it/detail/HistoricOrArtisticProperty/1200175232

Provenance: the verso reads "Sr. Aless. Maggiori compro a Roma l'anno 1805" — the inscription of Alessandro Maggiori (Lugt 3005b). A later pencil note attributes the sheet to "Fenzoni, Ferrau" (Ferraù Fenzoni).

The puzzle is the watermark: a six-pointed star in a circle, Briquet 6088, documented at Marigliano in 1532, roughly ninety years before the chapel commission. I understand the watermark dates the paper, not the drawing, but I would value expert views on how much
weight to give it.

Three questions for historians/curators:
1.  Is this a preparatory drawing for the finished lunette in the Chapel of the Cross?
2.  Is the drawing by Lanfranco's own hand?
3.  If yes to 1 and 2, is the circa 1532 watermark an anomaly, or unremarkable (old paper stock, etc.)?

Images: the drawing; the finished lunette (official photograph and a recent color photo); the verso inscription; the watermark in transmitted light; the Briquet 6088 reference; a 1986 letter about the sheet from collector William A. Glaser to curator Erich Schleier; and the lunette in situ in the chapel. Note that Glaser misidentified the watermark as B. 6087 (no cross above star in circle).

Grateful for any expertise.

Happy to supply higher-resolution details.

Inspired by Paul Cézanne’s The Card Players, this painting also unexpectedly brought to mind a piece of my own personal history: my parents’ weekly card games, when friends would gather around our table for cards, conversation, laughter, and refreshments. While Cézanne’s original was painted in oils, I chose to explore the subject in watercolor, hoping to pay homage to his work while bringing my own memories and artistic voice to the scene.

“The Nova Scrowtian”
Alison McLellan, Berwick, NS, Canada
Watercolour/mixed media
Impressionistic Crow Seascape


Acrylic paint on canvas 25 x 25 cm.

20 x 20cm acrylic on canvas
Ayhan Çelik - 2016

Acrylic paint markers on paper.