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Lot Essay
Diane De Grazia dates the drawing to 1568-1572 and compares its style to that of drawings at Windsor Castle, in the Uffizi and in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid (D. De Grazia, op. cit., nos. D94, D11 and D41, figs. 41, 97 and 157). She also points out that the same inscription 'Mirola' appears on a drawing at Stockholm, D. De Grazia, op. cit., no. D9, fig. 8.
The drawing is possibly a study for the figures on horseback in the right middle ground of the fresco of Marsilio and Orlando Rossi victorious at Florence in 1336 painted by Bertoia in 1565-70 in the Sala delle Gesta Rossiane in the Rocca at San Secondo, D. De Grazia, op. cit., p. 171, no. P4, fig. 162.
The frescoes celebrate the Rossi family, who had been ruling over San Secondo, near Parma, since the 14th Century. The Rocca, now the Palazzo Communale, was expanded by the Marchese Troilus II (1524-1591), probably as a protection against his nearby enemies Ottavio and Pier Luigi Farnese. Troilus was eventually defeated in 1556 and was forced to pay homage to the Farnese court at Piacenza. Diane de Grazia suggests that Bertoia and his team, who were working for the Farnese in the 1560s, were lent to Troilus by the Farnese for the decoration of the Rocca.
The drawing is possibly a study for the figures on horseback in the right middle ground of the fresco of Marsilio and Orlando Rossi victorious at Florence in 1336 painted by Bertoia in 1565-70 in the Sala delle Gesta Rossiane in the Rocca at San Secondo, D. De Grazia, op. cit., p. 171, no. P4, fig. 162.
The frescoes celebrate the Rossi family, who had been ruling over San Secondo, near Parma, since the 14th Century. The Rocca, now the Palazzo Communale, was expanded by the Marchese Troilus II (1524-1591), probably as a protection against his nearby enemies Ottavio and Pier Luigi Farnese. Troilus was eventually defeated in 1556 and was forced to pay homage to the Farnese court at Piacenza. Diane de Grazia suggests that Bertoia and his team, who were working for the Farnese in the 1560s, were lent to Troilus by the Farnese for the decoration of the Rocca.