Papal Authority

Carlo Saraceni

1616

Black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on blue-green paper, Chalk

J. Paul Getty Museum

A seated woman with her right arm raised, holding a bundle of sticks or reeds. She is looking upwards and to the right, with drapery covering her lower body and a large draped form to her right. Perched on a high ledge, the allegorical figure of papal authority holds up the keys to the church in one hand while clutching a notebook and quill pen in the other. Seen from below, her open-necked blouse exposes her broad, fleshy neck and powerful hands, while her skirt is drawn back enough to show her toes in a sandal. In the upper right, Carlo Saraceni experimented with a different arrangement for the folds of her dress. Saraceni produced this study for an allegorical figure in a fresco in a Roman palazzo. In the fresco she wears a more elaborate costume than the one in the drawing, suggesting that he based the drawing on a stud