Allegory of Sculpture

Apparently part of a series executed in 1706. Another drawing, dated the same year and numbered '3', showing A Sculptress in a Workshop, was sold in these Rooms, 19 April 1988, lot 140. Other related drawings are known, including a composition very close to the present drawing, though with different statues represented in the background and without signature and date, which appeared most recently at Christie's, Amsterdam, 15 November 1993, lot 115. The present drawing, and the Sculptress, seem to have been executed as finished works in their own right, rather than as studies for prints. The studio in the present drawing includes replicas of famous statues such as The Wrestlers (Florence, Uffizi) and Pan and Daphnis (from the Farnese Collection; Naples, Museo Archeologico).