Design for a papal tomb (recto); Saint John and a faint sketch of a façade (verso)

Details

Luigi Vanvitelli (Naples 1700-1773 Caserta)
Design for a papal tomb (recto); Saint John and a faint sketch of a façade (verso)
inscribed with a scale and numbers ‘5, 10, 20, 30, 40’ and with inscription ‘CLEMENS XI ROME’ (recto)
black chalk, pen and brown ink, illegible watermark in a circle
13.5 x 9 1/8 in. (34.3 x 23.2 cm)

Provenance

Michelangelo Pacetti (1793-1855), Rome (according to the 1960 auction catalogue).
Paul Fatio, Geneva (L. 3701); Nicolas Rauch, Geneva, 13-15 June 1960, lot 422, where acquired by Robert Landolt.

Special notice

This lot is offered without reserve. These lots have been imported from outside the EU or, if the UK has withdrawn from the EU without an agreed transition deal, from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime. Import VAT is payable at 5% on the hammer price. VAT at 20% will be added to the buyer’s premium but will not be shown separately on our invoice.

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Lot Essay

The son of the landscapist Gaspar van Wittel and himself an architect, most famously of the royal palace at Caserta for King Carlos III of Naples, Luigi left numerous architectural drawings for churches, palaces and villas in Naples and Rome. The nervous style of the present drawing can be compared to drawings such as one at the Reggia di Caserta (inv. 328; see Dessins napolitains. XVIIe-XVIIIe siècles. Collections des musées de Naples, exhib. cat., Paris, École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, 1983, no. 88, ill.).

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