Filippo Juvarra

Nathaniel Hone (L.2793)

Laid down on an 18th Century sheet and window mounted. Overall in good condition and fresh. Tiny buckling of the paper towards the bottom right corner.
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Filippo Juvarra was recognized in his lifetime as one of the most gifted architects and imaginative draftsmen of his generation, in demand all over Europe.  He was active as a stage designer and an illustrator, and also executed ornamental drawings for furniture, gardens and fountains.  He arrived in Rome in 1704 from Sicily, where he seems to have taught himself the rules of architecture.  After entering the studio of the architect Carlo Fontana he spent ten years in Rome from which period we have more than one thousand drawings, preserved in albums, now in various public collections in Europe and the United States.

It seems that upon his arrival in Rome, Juvarra was advised to draw on site, from ancient monuments and from buildings by the great architects.  Although prompted to study real buildings, he often indulged himself by drawing imagined views and architectural fantasies.  In such works it has been correctly noted that he anticipated Piranesian themes.  His drawings are often characterized by a vigorous use of the pen, as can be seen here.  This vibrant sketch, made with quick spikey lines, of a vaulted interior with figures, possibly a view of a church interior, could represent a real space, drawn on the spot.  Stylistically it can be compared with a number of Juvarra's drawings dating from his Roman stay, see for example, the Architectural Fantasy, in Tournon, and two designs in the Biblioteca Nazionale, Turin, which are studies for the Cappella Antamoro in San Girolamo della Carità, Rome, a chapel begun in 1708.¹

The inscription at the top of the backing sheet does not seem to be in Juvarra's handwriting.²

1.  H.A. Millon, Filippo Juvarra, Drawings from the Roman Period, Rome 1984, part I, p. 245, no. T 103, reproduced p. 114; p. 307, nos. BNT 59.4, 21v.2, BNT 59.4, 127.1, reproduced p. 138

2.  Juvarra's pupil G. B. Sacchetti compiled a catalogue of his drawings executed between 1714 and 1735 which was published in 1874 by Adamo Rossi; see H.A. Millon, op.cit., p. XII