Design for a ceiling with the apotheosis of the house of Wittelsbach

Details

Carlo Innocenzo Carlone (Scaria 1686-1775 Como)
Design for a ceiling with the apotheosis of the house of Wittelsbach
signed and numbered 'Carloni 64' (on a slip of paper laid down on the drawing) and inscribed 'Disegno della Gran Sala' and '5 piedi' (recto)
traces of black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown and grey wash, partly inscribed in a rectangle, small areas made up
19 x 23 7/8 in. (48.8 x 60.8 cm.)

Provenance

Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 16 April 1955, probably lot 15 ('A small parcel of drawings in various mediums with examples attributed to C. Ferri, Reni, Titian and others'; £16 to Gronau).
Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, London, 7 July 1966, lot 121.
F. J. B. Watson; and thence by descent to the present owner.

Literature

A. Barigozzi Brini and K. Garas, Carlo Innocenzo Carlone, Milan, 1967, p. 124 (as 'Glorificazione di un principe') and pl. 69 (as 'Glorificazione della casa Wittelsbach').

Exhibited

Brühl, Schloss Augustusburg, Kurfürst Clement August Austellung, 1961 (not listed in catalogue).

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Lot Essay

A preparatory drawing for Carlone's painting in the Gartensaal at Schloss Augustusburg at Brühl, one of several ceiling decorations commissioned for the castle from the artist by Clemens August, Elector of Bavaria (1700-1761) in the years around 1750. The central figure of the enthroned youth, who is being offered a crown by the kneeling figure of Justice, represents the House of Wittelsbach. He is flanked by figures representing the Church and martial virtue, on the right, and by Apollo as the patron of the Arts, on the left. On the top of the throne is Clement August's personal monogram of two interlaced Cs. The finished painting, which was probably executed by Carlone after he had finished the decorations of the Treppenhaus for Clement August in 1749, shows minor differences from the drawing, such as the replacement of the Elector's monogram with a profile portrait of Clement August himself.

For a note on the collector, please see lot 163.

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