The chariot race on Piazza Santa Maria Novella in Florence

The author of this drawing and of the two following lots based his compositions on prints by Jacques Callot. Two of the three drawings can be connected to etchings published as part of the series of Les Caprices of 1617-1620 (fig. 1).

The artist changed some details of the compositions and transformed Callot’s small prints ( 2 3⁄16 x 3 1⁄8 inches) into large and highly decorative drawings.

Fig. 1. Jacques Callot, La Course de Chars sur la Place Santa Maria Novella a Florence (The Chariot Race in the Piazza Santa Maria Novella in Florence), from Les Caprices. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.