Lot 33
33
Giovanni Battista Franco, il Semolei (1510-1561)

A bearded man sitting on a globe, with two putti holding mirrors and allegories of Day and Night writing in a large book at his feet

Details
Giovanni Battista Franco, il Semolei (1510-1561)
Franco, G.B.
Semolei
A bearded man sitting on a globe, with two putti holding mirrors and allegories of Day and Night writing in a large book at his feet
with inscriptions 'Parmigianino' (recto and verso) and 'No. 530' and 'Parmens' (verso)
pen and brown ink, with stylus indication
10.3/8 x 6.5/8 in. (264 x 168 mm.)
Provenance
Anon. sale, Christie's London, 9 December 1980, lot 1.
with Katrin Bellinger, Munich.
Literature
B. Brejon de Lavergne, Catalogue des dessins italiens, Collections du Palais des Beaux-Arts de Lille, Paris, 1997, under no. 1119.

Lot Essay

Anne Lauder kindly confirmed the attribution of this drawing and pointed out the copy of this drawing at Lille. Maxime Praud proposed that the subject of the Lille drawing was Demogorgon, an earth-god who built a ball on which he sat, and made the earth, the sky, the sun and the night, B. Brejon de Lavergne, op. cit., p. 410. The two putti writing in the book represent the day and the night. It has also been suggested that this drawing represents an allegory with Aristotle.