Lot Essay
The present drawing is a modello for a destroyed, or never executed, fresco for the ceiling of the Sala di Troia in the Palazzo Ducale in Mantua, painted by Giulio and his studio around 1538, B. Talvacchia in Giulio Romano, exhib. cat., Palazzo Ducale, Mantua, 1989, pp. 406-411.
Two other versions of this drawing exist, one more freely drawn, in the Louvre (F. Hartt, Giulio Romano, New Haven, 1958, fig. 122) and the other in the Biblioteca Reale in Turin, A. Bertani, I disegni italiani della Biblioteca Reale di Torino, Roma, 1958, no. 195, illustrated. The latter is a copy after the present drawing and probably, according to Stefania Massari (op. cit., p. 284), a tracing of it. The former, of a rectangular shape, was engraved in reverse by Antonio Fantuzzi, with the lunette shape sketched in (fig. 1).
Giulio often executed finished drawings after his own sketches, probably to be used by his assistants to paint the frescoes. The squaring on the present drawing might suggest that it was to be transferred on a larger scale to a cartoon, as proposed by Dr. Richard Harprath. Giulio's modelli for the Sala di Psyche in the Palazzo del Te, similar in handling to the present drawing, are in the Louvre and the Uffizi, Hartt, op. cit., nos. 171 and 169, figs. 270 and 272. Giulio's preliminary drawings for these are respectively in the British Museum and formerly in the Ellesmere collection, Hartt, op. cit., nos. 170 and 168, figs. 269 and 271. Another modello for the Sala di Psyche is illustrated in Hartt, op. cit., fig. 273.
The attribution of the present drawing was confirmed by both Dr. Konrad Oberhuber and the late Dr. Richard Harprath.
Two other versions of this drawing exist, one more freely drawn, in the Louvre (F. Hartt, Giulio Romano, New Haven, 1958, fig. 122) and the other in the Biblioteca Reale in Turin, A. Bertani, I disegni italiani della Biblioteca Reale di Torino, Roma, 1958, no. 195, illustrated. The latter is a copy after the present drawing and probably, according to Stefania Massari (op. cit., p. 284), a tracing of it. The former, of a rectangular shape, was engraved in reverse by Antonio Fantuzzi, with the lunette shape sketched in (fig. 1).
Giulio often executed finished drawings after his own sketches, probably to be used by his assistants to paint the frescoes. The squaring on the present drawing might suggest that it was to be transferred on a larger scale to a cartoon, as proposed by Dr. Richard Harprath. Giulio's modelli for the Sala di Psyche in the Palazzo del Te, similar in handling to the present drawing, are in the Louvre and the Uffizi, Hartt, op. cit., nos. 171 and 169, figs. 270 and 272. Giulio's preliminary drawings for these are respectively in the British Museum and formerly in the Ellesmere collection, Hartt, op. cit., nos. 170 and 168, figs. 269 and 271. Another modello for the Sala di Psyche is illustrated in Hartt, op. cit., fig. 273.
The attribution of the present drawing was confirmed by both Dr. Konrad Oberhuber and the late Dr. Richard Harprath.