Lot Essay
The construction and the decoration of the Villa Imperiale in Pesaro was one of the most splendid artistic projects of the early 16th century in the Marches. The Villa was already begun, however, in the 15th century under Alessandro Sforza, the cornerstone was laid by Emperor Frederick III in 1469 who gave the Villa its name.
Around 1530, the new owners of the site, the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria della Rovere and the Duchess, Eleonora, decided to enlarge the building and transform it into their summer residence. Their plan included a new wing with several courts and terraces that would have to be added to the quattrocento palace and the decoration of the old piano nobile with frescos. Girolamo Genga (c. 1476-1551), the leading Umbrian architect, painter, and stage designer, was put in charge of this project. Genga designed the additions to the older architecture but he was also involved in the decoration executing the frescoes in the Sala del Giuramento. Artists from all over Italy were employed to contribute to the fresco decoration of the Villa. Among them were Melozzo da Forlì, Raffaellino dal Colle, who had worked with Raphael in Rome, Agnolo Bronzino, and Battista and Dosso Dossi from the court of the Duke of Ferrara. The Dossi decorated the Sala delle Cariatidi, dated to circa 1530 by A. Ballarin, Dosso Dossi. La Pittura a Ferrara negli anni del ducato di Alfonso I, Padua, 1995, no. 458, figs. 792-794.
Work on the decoration continued throughout the 1530s until it was brought to a sudden end by the death of Duke Francesco Maria in 1538. Genga's architecture and parts of the fresco decoration were incomplete when the team of artists, after having worked together for almost a decade, was dispersed.
The present drawing has been tentatively attributed to Dosso Dossi by E. Van Schaack who suggested that it might have been intended as a preparatory drawing for a title page of a description of the Villa and dates it between 1530 and 1534, Van Schaack, op. cit., p. 77. Ebria Feinblatt, in her entry on the drawing in the more recent exhibition catalogue, Old Master Drawings from American Collections, op. cit., p. 70, no. 79, gave the drawing either to a 'Northern Italian Artist' or to Dosso Dossi (with a question mark).
Dosso's style, especially that of his landscapes, was strongly influenced by the works of Titian and Giorgione. The extremely refined penwork of the landscape in the background seems to presuppose the knowledge of the drawings of the two Venetian masters which Dosso could have known through his brother Battista who was a pupil of Titian. There are no drawings attributed to Dosso Dossi with certainty.
Another question is raised by the precise perspective stylus construction of the column-base that recedes toward the right-hand that may only be explained by solving the question of the function of the drawing.
Around 1530, the new owners of the site, the Duke of Urbino, Francesco Maria della Rovere and the Duchess, Eleonora, decided to enlarge the building and transform it into their summer residence. Their plan included a new wing with several courts and terraces that would have to be added to the quattrocento palace and the decoration of the old piano nobile with frescos. Girolamo Genga (c. 1476-1551), the leading Umbrian architect, painter, and stage designer, was put in charge of this project. Genga designed the additions to the older architecture but he was also involved in the decoration executing the frescoes in the Sala del Giuramento. Artists from all over Italy were employed to contribute to the fresco decoration of the Villa. Among them were Melozzo da Forlì, Raffaellino dal Colle, who had worked with Raphael in Rome, Agnolo Bronzino, and Battista and Dosso Dossi from the court of the Duke of Ferrara. The Dossi decorated the Sala delle Cariatidi, dated to circa 1530 by A. Ballarin, Dosso Dossi. La Pittura a Ferrara negli anni del ducato di Alfonso I, Padua, 1995, no. 458, figs. 792-794.
Work on the decoration continued throughout the 1530s until it was brought to a sudden end by the death of Duke Francesco Maria in 1538. Genga's architecture and parts of the fresco decoration were incomplete when the team of artists, after having worked together for almost a decade, was dispersed.
The present drawing has been tentatively attributed to Dosso Dossi by E. Van Schaack who suggested that it might have been intended as a preparatory drawing for a title page of a description of the Villa and dates it between 1530 and 1534, Van Schaack, op. cit., p. 77. Ebria Feinblatt, in her entry on the drawing in the more recent exhibition catalogue, Old Master Drawings from American Collections, op. cit., p. 70, no. 79, gave the drawing either to a 'Northern Italian Artist' or to Dosso Dossi (with a question mark).
Dosso's style, especially that of his landscapes, was strongly influenced by the works of Titian and Giorgione. The extremely refined penwork of the landscape in the background seems to presuppose the knowledge of the drawings of the two Venetian masters which Dosso could have known through his brother Battista who was a pupil of Titian. There are no drawings attributed to Dosso Dossi with certainty.
Another question is raised by the precise perspective stylus construction of the column-base that recedes toward the right-hand that may only be explained by solving the question of the function of the drawing.