Follower of Leonardo da Vinci, late 16th Century, Italian 1452-1519- Old woman, head and shoulders, in profile to the left and wearing a head covering; black chalk on laid paper. bears inscription ‘An. Carracci’ (lower right); bears collector's...
Follower of Leonardo da Vinci, late 16th Century,
Italian 1452-1519-
Old woman, head and shoulders, in profile to the left and wearing a head covering;
black chalk on laid paper.
bears inscription ‘An. Carracci’ (lower right);
bears collector's mark L.474 (lower right);
bears collector's mark L.2811b on the paper mount (lower right);
bears inscription ‘3.D.L.1.’ (verso of the paper mount, upper edge) and repeated ‘3.D.L.1. other side D’ (verso of the paper mount, lower edge) (L.3510);
bears inscription and collector's mark L.2811b on the card mount (lower right).
with a pencil sketch of a woman's head in profile, and the Holy Family below, on the reverse.
17.5 x 13 cm.
Provenance:
Charles Paul Jean-Baptiste de Bourgevin Vialart de Saint-Morys, (French 1743-1795) (L.474).
By descent to his son, Charles Etienne de Bourgevin Vialart, Comte de Carrière, (French 1772-1817).
His Sale; Mr H. Phillips, London, 13 June 1797 (3rd Day), lot 1 (part) [Thirty-four various studies] (3.D.L.1 inscription).
Where purchased by ‘Rowlandson’ for 4 shillings (probably English artist Thomas Rowlandson).
The collection of Dr Carl Robert Rudolf (b.1884), London (L.2811b).
Private Collection, UK.
Note:
The present work appears to be an early free interpretation of one of Leonardo da Vinci’s so-called caricatures. For two other examples, see ‘Two Grotesque Heads’ by Francesco Melzi after da Vinci in the National Gallery of Art, Washington (no.1980.63.1), and Carmen Bambach (ed.), ‘Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2003, p.687 (illustrated lower left) and p.696.
The sitter’s headdress in the present work bears resemblance to those historically worn by the University professors in Bologna. Bartolomeo Passerotti adopts a similar headdress in his Portrait of Gaspare Bargellini, 1570-80 (Davia Bargellini Museum, Bologna). Similarities can also be found in the carvings of medieval tombs in the Bologna area.
The larger head on the verso is likely a study for the head of the older woman (Saint Elizabeth) from the group lightly sketched directly below, likely a Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Elizabeth.
Julian Brooks and Casey Lee's recent article (“The Identification of the ‘Pseudo-Crozat’ Mark (Lugt 474): SaintMorys and Carrière,” Master Drawings, 59, no.3, 2021, pp.391–409) has helpfully revealed full details of the identification of the hitherto unknown ‘Pseudo-Crozat’ Mark (Lugt 474).
Please refer to department for condition report
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Follower of Leonardo da Vinci, late 16th Century,
Italian 1452-1519-
Old woman, head and shoulders, in profile to the left and wearing a head covering;
black chalk on laid paper.
bears inscription ‘An. Carracci’ (lower right);
bears collector's mark L.474 (lower right);
bears collector's mark L.2811b on the paper mount (lower right);
bears inscription ‘3.D.L.1.’ (verso of the paper mount, upper edge) and repeated ‘3.D.L.1. other side D’ (verso of the paper mount, lower edge) (L.3510);
bears inscription and collector's mark L.2811b on the card mount (lower right).
with a pencil sketch of a woman's head in profile, and the Holy Family below, on the reverse.
17.5 x 13 cm.
Provenance:
Charles Paul Jean-Baptiste de Bourgevin Vialart de Saint-Morys, (French 1743-1795) (L.474).
By descent to his son, Charles Etienne de Bourgevin Vialart, Comte de Carrière, (French 1772-1817).
His Sale; Mr H. Phillips, London, 13 June 1797 (3rd Day), lot 1 (part) [Thirty-four various studies] (3.D.L.1 inscription).
Where purchased by ‘Rowlandson’ for 4 shillings (probably English artist Thomas Rowlandson).
The collection of Dr Carl Robert Rudolf (b.1884), London (L.2811b).
Private Collection, UK.
Note:
The present work appears to be an early free interpretation of one of Leonardo da Vinci’s so-called caricatures. For two other examples, see ‘Two Grotesque Heads’ by Francesco Melzi after da Vinci in the National Gallery of Art, Washington (no.1980.63.1), and Carmen Bambach (ed.), ‘Leonardo da Vinci: Master Draftsman’, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New Haven and London, Yale University Press, 2003, p.687 (illustrated lower left) and p.696.
The sitter’s headdress in the present work bears resemblance to those historically worn by the University professors in Bologna. Bartolomeo Passerotti adopts a similar headdress in his Portrait of Gaspare Bargellini, 1570-80 (Davia Bargellini Museum, Bologna). Similarities can also be found in the carvings of medieval tombs in the Bologna area.
The larger head on the verso is likely a study for the head of the older woman (Saint Elizabeth) from the group lightly sketched directly below, likely a Virgin and Child with Saint John the Baptist and Elizabeth.
Julian Brooks and Casey Lee's recent article (“The Identification of the ‘Pseudo-Crozat’ Mark (Lugt 474): SaintMorys and Carrière,” Master Drawings, 59, no.3, 2021, pp.391–409) has helpfully revealed full details of the identification of the hitherto unknown ‘Pseudo-Crozat’ Mark (Lugt 474).
Please refer to department for condition report
Sale price
Estimate
Time, Location
Auction House
