Four drawings of putti at play

Among the most productive book illustrators of the sixteenth century, the Swiss Amman was also a prolific and gifted draughtsman. The numbers on these four drawings indicate they were once part of a larger series, perhaps made as independent works of art. Drawings of similar style and wit can be found in several other examples, some signed with the artist’s monogram, for instance a sheet dated 1579 at the Städel Museum, Frankfurt (inv. 6945; see E. Schilling, Katalog der deutschen Zeichnungen. Alte Meister, Frankfurt, 1973, I, no. 25, II, ill.). Comparable prints appeared in Amman’s Kunstbüchlein, or Enchiridion artis, published in Frankfurt in 1578 (see G. Seelig, Jost Amman. Book illustrations, VI, Rotterdam, 2003, nos. 134.29, 134.30, 134.92, 134.93, 134.94, 134.95, ill.).