Attributed to Sienese artist Ventura Salimbeni (ca. 1568-1613), The Deposition is a small drawing rendered in pen and brown ink wash heightened with white on blue paper (Fig 1.). Having fulfilled the prophecies of his sacrificial death, Christ is being removed from the cross. He rests limply on a large rock at the center of the composition, surrounded by mourners and angels, some of them supporting his lifeless body. This group included a haloed female figure, possibly the Virgin Mary, at his back; two angels, each holding one of Christ's hands; and a kneeling figure, perhaps Mary Magdalene, kissing his feet. The artist has omitted the top of the cross, instead echoing its shape through Christ's body. The entire scene is set against a mountainous landscape with cloudy, turbulent skies. 

The drawing is carefully rendered. The pen lines are confident and even, creating clear distinctions between the figures, articulating their relationship to one another. The composition appears to be built up from the layering of materials, which suggests that the artist may have first drafted an underdrawing in black chalk or graphite to loosely work out the placement of the figures. Over the pen lines, layers of ink wash were then applied to create shadow. There are various gradations of ink wash with darker ink and white highlight creating further definition. This is present in the contours of the mountain, especially to the right, as well as on the wings of the right angel and in the folds of Mary Magdalene's garment. Further evidence of this layering can be seen under infrared light in images made by specialist Morgan Adams, Alexis Hagadorn, and Emily Lynch at the Columbia University Libraries Conservation Program. Faint lines become visible in the area of Christ's calf and the drapery on the rock (Fig. 2). 

The Deposition, along with approximately 130 other works on paper, entered Columbia's Art Properties collection as a gift of the estate of Lola Szladits in 1990. Lola Szladits purchased the drawing, then titled Lamentation at the Foot of the Cross, from Savoy Art and Auction Galleries (sale no. 644; lot 28) on April 25, 1958. 1 The drawing also has a distinguished provenance, having previously been in the collections of both Robert Undy and Sir Thomas Lawrence. Robert Udny, a Scottish merchant, collected both Italian Renaissance paintings and drawings, assembling a large collection of Italian Old Masters. The famous British portraitist Sir Thomas Lawrence (1769-1830) amassed a large and prestigious collection of Old Master drawings. Their respective collector's marks appear on the drawing. Robert Udny's collector's mark, an ornate RU, is stamped in black ink and the blue framing line at the lower right corner of the mount.2 Sir Thomas Lawrence's collectors mark, an embossed TL, appears in the lower left corner of the drawing itself. Though it can be spotted with the naked eye, the mark becomes more apparent under infrared light (Fig. 2).  

Also using infrared light, Columbia's conservators discovered a modern graphite line. This line on the far-left side of the drawing suggests that the paper was trimmed at least once before it was mounted.3 The fact that only the left line remains is telling: the drawing was probably marked on all its edges and then carefully cut. No other edges have this straight line, i.e., the left side was deliberately left uncut. If this small section was removed, only the L and left most edges of the T in Thomas Lawrence's collectors mark would have remained. This untrimmed section preserves the collection history of the drawing and also suggests that it was not mounted or trimmed by Lawrence. 

As noted, The Deposition is composed on blue paper, a support more frequently used by Venetian artists rather than Romans or Florentines.4 It was a cheaper, rougher support made by pulping scraps of blue textiles. The textile fibers were difficult to break down; as a result, tangled fibers are often visible in the final product. Looking at The Deposition under a microscope, several wads of fibers are visible, with the largest in the upper right corner.5 This is clear evidence that the blue paper of The Deposition is made of pulped textiles rather than dyed white paper. 

Ventura Salimbeni was a Sienese artist who straddled the Mannerist and Baroque ages. He traveled across central Italy and died in 1613 in his hometown. He is known for his large-scale fresco programs in churches across central Italy. The majority of Salimbeni's drawings are held in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. Peter Anselm Riedl is the authoritative voice on Salimbeni's oeuvre and, according to him, Salimbeni worked closely with his older half-brother Francesco Vanni (1563-1610). They trained side by side, imitating each other's styles and techniques.6 For Salimbeni and Vanni, drawing was the primary tool to flesh out their ideas during the conception of larger paintings or frescos. However, there are no known surviving frescos by Salimbeni that relate to The Deposition. 

Of the drawings in North American collections currently attributed to Salimbeni, A Study for a Choir of Musical Angels in The Morgan Library and Museum collection has the most solid foundation for a Salimbeni attribution (Fig. 3). It is a preparatory study for a fresco in Chiesa Santa Maria degli Angeli in Siena, which survives to this day (Fig. 4). The Choir is rendered in pen and brown ink wash over an underdrawing in red and black chalk. The page is squared for transfer. The scene depicts a group of angels playing several instruments, most notably an organ, in the clouds. The chalk underdrawing is still visible despite the layering of pen and ink. The chalk lines are free and do not regularly correspond to the pen lines. This is most notable in the rendering of the organ pipes, where the vertical pen lines do not line up with the L-shaped dashes of chalk. Further evidence of this is present in the heads of the cherub at the lower left. This suggests that the artist was continually adjusting the composition, even as he switched mediums. 

When comparing the Morgan Library drawing with the Art Properties drawing, some key similarities and differences become apparent. Looking at the group of angels in the upper right of the Choir and the figure behind Christ in The Deposition, the faces are rendered in similar ways. The eyes and mouth are marked by several short dashes of ink. The contour of the noses is denoted either by clear L-shaped lines, quick Us, or dots indicating nostrils. However, there are important differences in the overall compositions. The first has to do with the nature of each drawing: the Choir is a preparatory sketch, while The Deposition is a finished drawing. The use of pen and ink wash is an important overlap, yet the application of the materials is much freer in the Choir than in The Deposition, where the quality of ink application is more restricted and careful. This could be a function of the differing purposes of the drawings, although according to Ridel, the freeness of ink application is a key characteristic of Salimbeni's drawings. In fact, The Deposition is the only known fully finished drawing currently attributed to Salimbeni. In this regard, the Art Properties drawing does not quite fit into the qualities scholars have ascribed to Salimbeni, thus leaving the current attribution in question. Nevertheless, this finished drawing clearly reflects the conventions and care involved in composing such a religiously important scene during the late 16th and early 17th centuries. 

• 1Mrs. Charles Szladits, receipt from Savoy Art and Auction Galleries, 25 April 1958, Papers on the Gift of Lola L. Szladits, Art Properties, Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University.
• 2Class discussion with Linda Wolk-Simon, February 3, 2023. This observation and identification, initially made by Dr. Wolk-Simon, was confirmed by the Foundation Custodia’s collectors mark database, https://www.fondationcustodia.fr/Collectors-Marks
• 3Class discussion with Morgan Adams, Alexis Hagadorn, and Emily Lynch, February 23, 2023.
• 4Irene Brückle, “Blue-Colored Paper in Drawings,” Drawing 15, no. 4 (Nov.-Dec. 1993): 73-77. And Caroline Fowler, The Art of Paper: Form the Holy Land to the Americas, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2019), 8-16.
• 5Class discussion with Morgan Adams, Alexis Hagadorn, and Emily Lynch, February 23, 2023.
• 6Peter Anselm Riedl, Disegni dei barocceschi senesi: Francesco Vanni e Ventura Salimbeni. (Florence: Firenze: Olschki, 1976), 10-11. Peter Anselm Riedl, “Zum Oeuvre Des Ventura Salimbeni,” Mitteilungen Des Kunsthistorischen Institutes in Florenz 9: 3/4 (November 1960), 224, https://www.jstor.org/stable/27652094.