Attributed to Agostino Mitelli, Italian 1609-1660- Design for a frontispiece: an allegorical figure of 'Liberty' seated on a lion, with the arms of the city of Bologna; pen and brown ink and red chalk on paper, inscribed 'LIBERTAS' (lower right)...

Attributed to Agostino Mitelli, Italian 1609-1660- Design for a frontispiece: an allegorical figure of 'Liberty' seated on a lion, with the arms of the city of Bologna; pen and brown ink and red chalk on paper, inscribed 'LIBERTAS' (lower right) and further inscribed with lettering in a cartouche, 26.8 x 9.7 cm. Provenance: Private Collection, UK. Note: Born in Battedizzo, near Bologna, Mitelli is best known as a fresco painter of ‘quadratura’ or illusionistic perspectival architectural frameworks. He had a long and fruitful collaboration with Angelo Michele Colonna (1604–87) in northern and central Italy. Colonna principally executed the figurative elements and Mitelli the ‘quadratura’ architectural framework. Examples of his ‘quadratura’ work can be found at Bologna, Parma, Modena, Florence, Rome and Genoa, testifying to the popularity of his style. Through his numerous pupils, Mitelli’s influence spread throughout Italy and Europe, and he exerted a strong influence on the school of ‘quadratura’ painting. He died in Madrid in 1660 while working at the court of King Phillip IV of Spain.