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Lot Essay
Cipriani was born in Florence, where he received tuition and encouragement from the artist, collector and dealer Ignazio Hugford, the son of a London watchmaker. In 1750 Cipriani went to Rome, where he met other Englishmen and in 1755 was persuaded to come to London by the architect Sir William Chambers and sculptor Joseph Wilton. The figures of Architecture and Painting depicted here are grouped against a tomb-like structure with a weeping putto at their feet. The principal figures are statuesque in their deportment and masculine in their musculature. Painting (on the right) is loosely based on Michelangelo's figure of Night from the tomb of Giuliano de' Medici in the church of San Lorenzo, Florence. These funerary associations do not necessarily suggest that the drawing was made in connection with a memorial, but are an indication of Cipriani's knowledge of Renaissance and classical art, a knowledge that was put to good use when he became a teacher and decorative designer and painter in London. He was a Foundation Member of the Royal Academy and designed the Academy's Diploma, which was engraved by his friend and regular collaborator Francesco Bartolozzi, and which Members were proud to frame and hang in their studios.
Cipriani's drawings were much admired, and the fact that this example was etched by Bartolozzi's pupil Conrad Metz for Imitations of Ancient and Modern Drawings is a tribute to its quality and its old masterly character. Metz's set of 'Imitations' followed on from Charles Rogers' Collection of Prints in Imitation of Drawings that had been published as a bound set in 1778 (see Christie's, London, 3 June 2009, lot 261). Metz's set appeared bound 20 years later, in 1798. Such prints flattered artists and collectors and were used by students as well as connoisseurs. A set of Metz's Imitations from the collection of the distinguished amateur artist the Rev. Thomas Kerrich is in the Fitzwilliam Museum (inventory no. 1.I.15).
E. Knight, the owner of the present drawing at the time it was reproduced, was almost certainly Edward Knight (d. 1812), the son of the Midlands ironmaster Edward Knight (1699-1780) of Wolverley, and a first cousin of Richard Payne Knight. The collector's mark 'TB' (Lugt Supplement, 416a) has recently been identified as being that of Thomas Blayds.
Cipriani's drawings were much admired, and the fact that this example was etched by Bartolozzi's pupil Conrad Metz for Imitations of Ancient and Modern Drawings is a tribute to its quality and its old masterly character. Metz's set of 'Imitations' followed on from Charles Rogers' Collection of Prints in Imitation of Drawings that had been published as a bound set in 1778 (see Christie's, London, 3 June 2009, lot 261). Metz's set appeared bound 20 years later, in 1798. Such prints flattered artists and collectors and were used by students as well as connoisseurs. A set of Metz's Imitations from the collection of the distinguished amateur artist the Rev. Thomas Kerrich is in the Fitzwilliam Museum (inventory no. 1.I.15).
E. Knight, the owner of the present drawing at the time it was reproduced, was almost certainly Edward Knight (d. 1812), the son of the Midlands ironmaster Edward Knight (1699-1780) of Wolverley, and a first cousin of Richard Payne Knight. The collector's mark 'TB' (Lugt Supplement, 416a) has recently been identified as being that of Thomas Blayds.