Charles Percier* (1764-1838) and Pierre-Franois-Lonard Fontaine* (1762-1853)

The Interior of a Courtyard of the Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome

Details

Charles Percier* (1764-1838) and Pierre-Franois-Lonard Fontaine* (1762-1853)
The Interior of a Courtyard of the Palazzo della Cancelleria, Rome
red chalk, pen and gray ink, gray, blue and yellow wash
6 x 11 in. (172 x 294 mm.)

Provenance

Anon. sale; Paris, 22 March 1991, lot 18, illustrated.

Engraved

By C. Percier and P.-F.-L. Fontaine for Palais, maisons et autres difices modernes dessins Rome, Paris, 1798, pl. 79.

Lot Essay

The drawing was part of a group of drawings related to Percier and Fontaine's publication on Roman houses and palaces, published in Paris, in 1798 with more than 100 plates.
The Palazzo della Cancelleria was built between 1483 and 1511, probably by Bramante, using material from the Colosseum. The rectangular courtyard was made of 44 antique columns taken from San Lorenzo in Damasco.
At the time of Pope Leon X the palace became an ecclesiastical tribunal.