Lot Essay
This large sheet contains preparatory sketches for two angels in the fresco with the Triumph of the Cross painted by Carlo Maratti in 1655-1657 in the cupola of the Ludovisi chapel in the church of Sant’Isidoro in Rome (fig. 1; Rudolph and Prosperi Valenti Rodinò, op. cit., no. 32 I, ill.). Two other preparatory drawings for this decoration are known: a project for the entire cupola sold in these rooms in 2019 (Christie’s, London, 5 December 2019, lot 61) and a sheet of studies in the Museum der KunstPalast in Düsseldorf (inv. KA(FP) 12494; see ibid., no. 31.I.2, ill.).
Fig. 1. Carlo Maratti, The Triumph of the Cross. Church of Sant’Isidoro, Rome.
Fig. 1. Carlo Maratti, The Triumph of the Cross. Church of Sant’Isidoro, Rome.