Lot Essay
The same numbering is usually found on early Florentine drawings including a drawing by Pontormo in the British Museum, N. Turner, Florentine Drawings of the Sixteenth Century, London, 1986, no. 104, illustrated. Nicholas Turner proposed in that catalogued that the collector was Lamberto Gori (1730-1801), partly on the grounds that William Young Ottley, who owned the Pontormo, is known to have bought drawings from Gori. A further connection with Gori is suggested by the large group of similarly numbered drawings by Gabbiani in the Wicar collection in Lille, B. Brejon de Lavergnée, Catalogue des dessins italiens, collections du Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Paris, 1997, nos. 237-260, illustrated. Many of these were engraved by Ignazio Hugford, Gori's associate in the production of scagliola, for his Vita di Anton Domenico Gabbiani. For further information on Gori see Christie's, 12 January 1995, lot 60, illustrated.