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Lot Essay
The nobleman Gherardo Cibo was a passionate student of botany and nature, and a talented draftsman. After traveling as a member of several diplomatic delegations to Germany, France, and Flanders, he retired to live a more secluded life in Rocca Contrada (today’s Arcevia), a small settlement in the Marche region. Wandering around the Apennines, Cibo recorded in numerous drawings botanical specimens and views of the surrounding landscape with immediacy and truthfulness.
The artist’s representations of churches, farmhouses and small groups of buildings immersed in nature, such as the monastery depicted in this drawing, remain among the most charming landscape drawings of the 16th Century. While often the artist depicted his landscapes in monochrome compositions on white or blue paper, here he applied colors. A similarly colored drawing is in New York at the Morgan Library and Museum (inv. 1962.13).
The artist’s representations of churches, farmhouses and small groups of buildings immersed in nature, such as the monastery depicted in this drawing, remain among the most charming landscape drawings of the 16th Century. While often the artist depicted his landscapes in monochrome compositions on white or blue paper, here he applied colors. A similarly colored drawing is in New York at the Morgan Library and Museum (inv. 1962.13).