.jpg?w=1)
Lot Essay
This drawing is part of a series of at least eleven sheets of mainly military scenes, sold at auction in 1936 and there acquired by Sir Robert Witt. Three entered the Courtauld Gallery (inv. D.1952.RW.2789.1-3), others are now at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (inv. 66.127, 68.203; see Bean and Turčić, op. cit., nos. 54, 55, ill.), and the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (inv. 2010.93.17; see exhib. cat. Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, 2012, no. 9, ill.). Walter Vitzthum, who first studied the group (Cento disegni napoletani. Sec. XVI-XVIII, exhib. cat. Florence, Gabinetto Disegni e Stampe degli Uffizi, 1967, p. 16, under no. 4, as Corenzio), added two more drawings, in the Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum (inv. 1938-88-7080), and in the Biblioteca Nacional de Espana, Madrid (A. M. de Barcia, Catálogo de la colección de dibujos originales de la Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid, 1906, no. 8105, as Anonymous Italian).
Traditionally, these sheets have been attributed to the Neapolitan artist of Greek descent, Belisario Corenzio, whose secure works, however, are somewhat different from those in the series, characterized by delicate blue wash contrasting with the fine brown penwork. More convincing has been the attribution, first proposed by Silvia Musella Guida (‘Giovanni Balducci fra Roma e Napoli’, Prospettiva, XXXI, 1982, p. 44), and later defended by Mario Di Giampaolo (op. cit., 1992 and 2010), to the Tuscan-born Giovanni Balducci, who moved to Naples by the end of the 16th Century. On the basis of an old inscription on one of the sheets, the drawings are generally thought to represent scenes from the life of Don Juan of Austria, natural son of Charles V, and victor of the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto, who resided in Naples in the 1570s. However, the full extent of the narrative and its precise subject deserve to be further studied. It is evident from the squaring in black chalk that the drawings were made in preparation of an ambitious, but as yet to be identified decorative cycle, probably frescoes or tapestries.
Traditionally, these sheets have been attributed to the Neapolitan artist of Greek descent, Belisario Corenzio, whose secure works, however, are somewhat different from those in the series, characterized by delicate blue wash contrasting with the fine brown penwork. More convincing has been the attribution, first proposed by Silvia Musella Guida (‘Giovanni Balducci fra Roma e Napoli’, Prospettiva, XXXI, 1982, p. 44), and later defended by Mario Di Giampaolo (op. cit., 1992 and 2010), to the Tuscan-born Giovanni Balducci, who moved to Naples by the end of the 16th Century. On the basis of an old inscription on one of the sheets, the drawings are generally thought to represent scenes from the life of Don Juan of Austria, natural son of Charles V, and victor of the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto, who resided in Naples in the 1570s. However, the full extent of the narrative and its precise subject deserve to be further studied. It is evident from the squaring in black chalk that the drawings were made in preparation of an ambitious, but as yet to be identified decorative cycle, probably frescoes or tapestries.