Old Master Drawings

/

Lot 82
  • 82

Annibale Carracci

Estimate
15,000 - 20,000 USD
Log in to view results
bidding is closed

Description

  • Annibale Carracci
  • sheet of studies of 'caricatures of famous artists of his time'
  • Pen and brown ink;
    bears inscription in pen and black ink on the 19th Century mount and in pencil on the backing sheet: from Sketch-book of/Annibale Carracci/(caricatures of famous artists of his time)

Provenance

Sir Joshua Reynolds (according to a pencil note on the backing sheet);
Horace Walpole? (according to another pencil note on the backing sheet: Strawberry Hill Sale 18..);
Dr. C.R. Rudolf (L.2811b); his sale London, Sotheby's, 4 July 1977, Part II, lot 108

Exhibited

Edinburgh, Edinburgh Festival, Italian 17th CenturyDrawings from British Private Collections, 1972, no. 24, reproduced (as Attributed to Annibale Carracci)

Literature

Clare Robertson and Catherine Whistler, Drawings by the Carracci from British Collections,  exhibition catalogue, London, Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, and Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, 1996-1997, p. 119, under note 3

Condition

Laid down and window mounted. Some other sketches in pen and ink are visible looking through the backing. Possibly in the past the recto has been slightly cleaned. Two tiny losses, one on the right edge at the height of the tree and one over the left branch of the tree. Three or four tiny grayish spots and some surface dirt on the right margin.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

This lovely sheet of studies appears very close in style to the Caricature heads now in the British Museum.1  Both these sheets,  almost the same size, are examples of the so-called ritrattini carichi, literally 'loaded portraits'.  In the past, similar head studies have also been associated with the name of Agostino, but as discussed in the entry on the British Museum drawing, these studies are now believed to be by Annibale.  The placing of the heads seems less systematic if compared with one surely by Agostino, signed and dated 1594, in the Oppé collection.2  Besides, the British Museum drawing has a traditional attribution to Annibale annotated on the Richardson mount. 

1. See Literature

2. See Donald Posner, A. Carracci. A study in the Reform of Italian Painting around 1590, London 1971, vol. I, fig. 56