Saint Genesius, the Comedian, before Diocletian
Late XVI century. Wash, Grey-brown ink, Pencil ground on blue paper.Not on display
Rhoda Eitel-Porter has kindly confirmed that this drawing is indeed by Pozzo and connected with the artist´s share of the decoration of the Peretti Chapel in S. Susanna, Rome. The chapel is dedicated to St. Laurence, and Pozzo, a little-known painter from Valsolda (Milan), decorated it with scenes from the lives of Saints Eleutherius and Genesius, shortly before his premature death. The altarpiece of the Martyrdom of St. Laurence was painted by Cesare Nebbia (c. 1536-1614). Drawings by Pozzo are rare, and Eitel-Porter´s forthcoming article "Two Drawings by Giovanni Battista Pozzo" discusses what little is so far known about them. One of these, in the Albertina, Vienna, is a study for another of the compartments in Pozzo´s chapel decoration. The Vienna drawing, in style, composition and figure types, agrees perfectly with that in the Prado here catalogued.
