A cowherd resting with his animals by a road, a shepherd and other animals beyond

Details

Pier Francesco Cittadini (Milan 1613/1616-Bologna 1681)
A cowherd resting with his animals by a road, a shepherd and other animals beyond
with pencil inscription 'Marco RICCI' (by A.E. Popham on the recto of the mount, probably recording Skippe's attribution)
black chalk, pen and brown ink, brown wash
9 ¾ x 15 ¼ in. (24.6 x 38.7 cm)

Provenance

John Skippe (1742-1811), Upper Hall, Ledbury (on associated mount), and by descent to
Edward Holland-Martin; Christie’s, London, 20-21 November 1958, lot 178c (as Marco Ricci).
with W.R. Jeudwine, London, from whom acquired by Robert Landolt (L. 2223a).

Special notice

These lots have been imported from outside the EU or, if the UK has withdrawn from the EU without an agreed transition deal, from outside of the UK for sale and placed under the Temporary Admission regime.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

Given to Marco Ricci by A.E. Popham (see his inscription on the mount) and sold as such in the 1958 sale of John Skippe’s collection (see provenance), the style and technique of this drawing are in fact characteristic of that of the Bolognese artist Pier Francesco Cittadini. He was trained by Daniele Crespi (see lot 75) and Guido Reni, whose influence can be seen in the artist’s surviving paintings. His drawings often show landscapes dotted with trees, herdsmen and their animals; a group of such drawings can be found in the Royal Collection, Windsor Castle. Among those sheets is a Landscape with a goatherd (inv. RCIN 905732; see O. Kurz, Bolognese Drawings of the XVII and XVIII Centuries in the Collectin of her Majesty the Queen at Windsor Castle, London, 1955, no. 171), which shows a similarly idyllic landscape drawn in feathery penwork as in the present sheet.

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