A scene from the Book of Esther: King Ahasuerus with his scribes

Details

Giovanni Guerra (Modena 1544-1618 Rome)
A scene from the Book of Esther: King Ahasuerus with his scribes
with number '96' (recto) and with inscription 'M. Hemskirk' (verso of backing sheet) and with extensive writing on the verso (visible through the backing and the recto)
pen and brown ink, brown wash
9 7/8 x 6½ in. (22.6 x 16.3 cm.)

Provenance

John Viscount Hampden? (L. 2837).
G. Clausen (L. 539).
B. Himmelheber (L. 4035), and by descent to the present owner.

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Lot Essay

One of a series of drawings illustrating the Book of Esther. Others are in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (Inv. WA 1947.189 and 190), the Louvre (Inv. 10559) and the British Museum (Inv. 1975,0517.1 and 1975,0517.2; J.A. Gere and P. Pouncey, Italian drawings in the department of prints and drawings in the British Museum: Artists working in Rome: c. 1550 to c.1640, London, 1983, no. 191-2, pl. 181). All are inscribed with numbers on the recto, the highest being the one present drawing '96', and they all bear extensive writing on the verso, a characteristic of the artist's drawings.

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