After Giovanni Battista Cannetti, Italian 1750-1810- Statue of the Roman...

After Giovanni Battista Cannetti,
Italian 1750-1810-

Statue of the Roman God Jupiter, seated on an eagle throne;

red chalk on laid paper, 43 x 27 cm.

Provenance:
Private Collection, UK.

Note:
The present drawing is a copy of the Roman sculpture housed in the Museo Pio-Clementino of the Vatican, itself derived from the original Greek sculpture by Phidias made for the Temple of Zeus. The Roman sculpture previously belonged to the collection of Pope Pius VI and was engraved by artists including Cannetti and Francesco Piranesi (1758-1810). This drawing derives from the version by Cannetti in his collection of copperplate ‘Delle piu belle statue di Roma’ of 1779.

Jupiter is shown seated while holding the remains of a sceptre in his left hand and a lightning bolt in his right. The sceptre functions as a reminder of his rule over the gods while the lightning bolt is the weapon that served him to obtain such power. The eagle symbolises his control over the sky and is the animal he transforms himself into when visiting the earth in disguise, as he did when capturing Ganymede.