Baldassare Franceschini, il Volterrano (1611-1689)

A kneeling figure crowned with laurels writing on a scroll, surrounded by putti holding Saint Veronica's veil and burning books, with a winged horse: A study for a frontispiece dedicated to Duca Salviati

Details

Baldassare Franceschini, il Volterrano (1611-1689)
A kneeling figure crowned with laurels writing on a scroll, surrounded by putti holding Saint Veronica's veil and burning books, with a winged horse: A study for a frontispiece dedicated to Duca Salviati

red chalk studies (verso, laid down) and inscribed 'Fiori dellomo di Gesse mani o del Calvario oncni del duca salviati'
red chalk, pen and brown ink
214 x 210 mm.

Provenance

Anon. sale, Paris, 8 November 1922, part of lot 214.

Sale room notice

Marta Privitera has kindly pointed out that the scroll reads 'Fiori dell'orto di Gessemani e del Calvario sonetti del Duca Salviati' ('Flowers of the garden of Gethsemane and of Calvary Sonnets by Duca Salviati'), confirming that the sheet is a design for the frontispiece of a book of poems by Duca Salviati.

Lot Essay

The drawing is probably a study for the frontispiece of a book written by the poet Jacopo Salviati (1618-1698). Salviati was from a noble Florentine family and was created Duke of Giuliano in 1627 by Pope Urban VIII.
A variant of this drawing is in the Albertina, Vienna, and probably comes from the same 1922 sale as the present sheet, V. Birke and J. Kertsz, Die Italienischen Zeichnungen der Albertina, Vienna, 1997, IV, Inv. 23918. The Albertina composition shows the same elements as the present one, with Calvary in the background. The scroll in the Vienna drawing is inscribed 'Tu spirra al Petto mio Celeste Adore'.

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