Battista Franco, Il Semolei (1498-1561)

Details

Battista Franco, Il Semolei (1498-1561)

A seated Woman and two Men, one holding a candle, after the Antique

numbered 'D No. 9' on the mount; pen and brown ink
4 1/8 x 5in. (105 x 127mm.)

Provenance

J. Richardson Sen., his mount and attribution 'Battista Franco' and date 'May 11th. 1715'.
Earl Spencer (L. 1530), his mount and shelfmark 'D No.9'.
Dr. Barry Delany.
Dr. Max A. Goldstein.
Janos Scholz.

Exhibited

Vassar College, 1963, no. 4.
Duke University, 1966, no. 1, illustrated.

Lot Essay

This drawing is after the Adonis sarcophagus, now in the Palazzo Rospigliosi in Rome. Another copy of the sarcophagus by Franco is in the Teylers Museum, Haarlem (inv. I,2), and a further copy attributed to Polidoro da Caravaggio is in the Uffizi (Orn. 1659, recto). The latter sheet is inscribed 'San Giovanni in Laterano', where the relief must have stood in the early 16th Century.
We are grateful to Ursula Sdunnus and Ruth Rubinstein for their help in cataloguing this drawing.