A new drawing by Vasari for the altar of Santa Croce at Bosco Marengo

The Cabinet des Dessins at the Musee du Louvre possesses the largest surviv ing drawing by Giorgio Vasari. It represents the front of the monumental al tar at Bosco Marengo, commissioned by Pius V in 1567. The new drawing prese nted here, from an English private collection, is only the third to have em erged for this project. Vasari's monument was inspired by the great free-st anding medieval altars, adorned with images front and back, and this drawin g sheds light on how Vasari arrived at the final configuration for the comp ositions showing pairs of Dominican Saints at the sides of the altar. The d rawing demonstrates Vasari's careful attention to their iconography as well as their physical appearance; many aspects of his figures are in fact rema rkably consistent with representations of these same saints in early Tuscan painting. At the same time, Vasari presented alternative designs for these compositions. The first set is more archaic in character, with diminutive figures standing in packed compositions, almost like chess pieces; the seco nd is more fluidly drawn against less-crowded backgrounds. The differences in handling suggest that the artist had different pictorial affects in mind . Vasari's own preference for the second option is demonstrated by the fact that part of it was squared for transfer. Ultimately, however, the finishe d pictures have more in common with the first option, presumably because it was more in keeping with the traditional or "revivalist" character of the altar, in addition, it was possibly more in line with Pope Pius' conservati ve taste.