GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIAZZETTA (VENICE 1682-1754)
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIAZZETTA (VENICE 1682-1754)
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIAZZETTA (VENICE 1682-1754)
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GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIAZZETTA (VENICE 1682-1754)

The Madonna and Child

Details
GIOVANNI BATTISTA PIAZZETTA (VENICE 1682-1754)
The Madonna and Child
with inscription 'Gianbatista Piazzetta Veno' (lower right)
black and red chalk on paper
8 1⁄8 x 5 7⁄8 in. (20.6 x 15 cm.)
Provenance
The Reliable Venetian Hand, with his attribution 'Gianbatista Piazzetta Veno' (L. 3005c).
Anonymous sale; Christie's, London, 16 April 1991, lot 181, where purchased by
Duke Roberto Ferretti di Castelferretto (1923-2005), Montreal.
with Crispian Riley-Smith, London, by 1999.
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, New York, 26 January 2022, lot 123.

Brought to you by

Lucy Speelman
Lucy Speelman Junior Specialist, Head of Day Sale

Lot Essay

This drawing is characteristic of Piazzetta's red chalk preparatory compositions for engraving. The sheet belonged to an anonymous early collector (L. 3005c) known as ‘The Reliable Venetian Hand’ from the neat handwriting and the often accurate attributions inscribed on the drawings along the lower margin, first noticed by Arthur Popham (1889-1970) (see T. Mullaly, ‘The Reliable Venetian Hand - an exhibition and some additions’, Burlington Magazine, CIX, no. 766 (January 1967), pp. 48-51). Although in recent years some these early attributions have been questioned, the collector having been not as reliable as once thought, this is not the case for the present drawing.

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