Recto: Venus Bathing, after Giambologna; Verso: A partial study of an Architectural Detail

Dr. Arthur Feldmann (1877-1941), Brno;

Looted by the Gestapo from the Feldmann villa in Brno, 15 March 1939;

Moravian Provincial Museum, Brno (their mark, and inventory no. 3243);

Moravská galerie, Brno;

Restituted to the heirs of Dr. Arthur Feldmann in 2003;

By whom sold, Sotheby's London, 6 July 2005, lot 39;

Where acquired by Aso O. Tavitian.

This study takes as its subject Giambologna's Venus Bathing, an early sculpture by the artist and one of his most celebrated and copied works. Stylistically, the drawing is closely comparable with a monogrammed study by Heintz in Weimar, dated circa 1587, in which he copied one of the bozzetti created by Michelangelo for the tomb of Pope Julius II (see J. Zimmer, Joseph Heintz der Ältere Zeichnungen und Dokumente, Munich 1998, cat.no. A 23, fig. 58). This study is similarly constructed, using a strong outline in pen and soft chalk hatching to model the forms.  It also shows a similar concentration on the pose and proportion, rather than the detail of the sculpture, as may also be seen in a study Heintz made in the same year of Giambologna's Rape of the Sabine Women  (see J. Zimmer, op.cit., cat. no. A 22, fig. 57). It is highly likely that our drawing may be dated to the same period: the first years of Heintz's tour of Italy of 1583-9. Giambologna produced a near life-size marble replica of his original bronze statuette of the Venus Bathing for G.C. Cesarino at the Villa Ludovisi, Rome, in about 1583. Heintz arrived in the city the following year, and became a pupil of Hans von Aachen;  it is plausible that this study was made in the Villa gardens as part of his training. Interestingly, the architectural sketch on the verso may also be compared to another published drawing by Heintz: a fragment of a cornice which is part of his design for a church in Haunshiem (see J. Zimmer, op.cit., cat. no. A 87, fig. 130).