FEATURES ARCHIVE

The Old Master & Early British Drawings & Watercolors sale on January 26, 2012 in New York boasts an outstanding selection of Italian drawings from the 16th through the 19th centuries, featuring a broad range of subjects and styles, from theatrical figures to classical mythology. The five examples here illustrate the quality and diversity of this superb selection.

Three Theatrical Figures
This drawing relates to della Bella’s interest in the performing arts. The winged figure wreathed in laurel, which appears on the right-hand side of this sheet, is very similar to the figure representing Theatrical Art in Della Bella’s Frontispiece of ‘La finta pazza’. First performed in Venice in 1641, La finta pazza was composed by Francesco Sacrati. The opera represented the story of Achilles’s period at the court in Skyros, disguised as a girl, and the resulting feigned madness of his lover Deidamia. Following its performance in Paris in 1645, in front of Anne of Austria and the young Louis XIV, it had a great influence on the development of the opera-ballet in France.

A Seated Prophet
Drawings by the Roman-born son Cristoforo, son and pupil of Alessandro Casolani (1522–1607) are exceedingly rare. This sheet is a study for a fresco in the church of San Mario del Monti in Rome. The figure is located in the right half lunette of the upper section of the inner façade; however, the angel sweeping down above the prophet’s head is absent from the drawing. Previous owners of this work included Sir Joshua Reynolds.

An Angel Seated on a Cloud Playing the Lute
This sheet is a rare early example of a finished red chalk drawing by Guercino, most likely made as an independent work in its own right. It can be dated circa 1619–20 because of the masterly chiaroscuro executed with a drier, orange-tinted chalk and a robust, almost rough application. The crossed feet of the angel recalls, in reverse, those of a shepherd in Erminia and the Shepherds of 1619–20 (Birmingham City Museum and Art Gallery), as do the loosely falling layers of hair. The pose of the angel in the present drawing is also similar to that of the musical angel in Guercino’s Saint Francis and the Angel of the same period.

An Allegorical Personification of the Nile
This drawing by the Venetian artist Giovanni Domenico Tiepolo was made after one of two Roman colossi sculptures dating from the 2nd century A.D., which were installed by Michelangelo in the Piazza del Campidoglio in 1552. The figure wonderfully captures the classical grandeur and elegance of the antique sculpture.

Achilles Hastening to Avenge the Death of Patroclus
This drawing by Felice Giani is part of the Property from the Estate of Leo Steinberg, one of the most influential art historians of the past sixty years. This dynamic composition depicts an episode from the mythological story of the Trojan War – Achilles is rushing to avenge the death of his close friend and companion Patroclus by killing Hector, which would ultimately lead to his own demise. While there is no known painting or fresco by Giani of this subject, there is a vibrant oil sketch (51 x 67 cm.), very close in composition to the drawing, in a private collection in Paris which has been dated to the second decade of the 19th century.