- 72
GIOVANNI DAVID | A Nightmare
Estimate
14,000 - 18,000 GBP
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Description
- Giovanni David
- A Nightmare
- Pen and black and grey ink with grey and brown wash, heightened with white and yellow, over black chalk, set within a fictive mount, drawn with a blue wash border and black ink framing lines
- 236 by 306 mm
Provenance
Sale, Milan, Sotheby's, 8 May 2001, lot 435;
with Jean-Luc Baroni Ltd., London and New York, Master Drawings, 2002, no. 27
Private collection
with Jean-Luc Baroni Ltd., London and New York, Master Drawings, 2002, no. 27
Private collection
Literature
A. Cera, ed., Disegni, acquarelli, tempere di artisti italiani dal 1770 al 1830 ca., Bologna 2002, Vol.I, unpaginated, no. 7;
M. Newcome Schleier and G. Grasso, Giovanni David: Pittore e incisore della famiglia Durazzo, Turin 2003, p.52, no. D20;
A. Lafont, ‘Genova alle origini del romanticismo francese: Girodet e Gros in Italia’, in Piero Boccardo, Clario Di Fabio and Philippe Sénéchal, ed., Genova e l’Europa: Opere, artisti, committenti, collezionisti, Cinisello, Balsamo 2003, p.251, fig.11;
C. S. Ackley, ‘Master drawings from the collection of Horace Wood Brock’, The Magazine Antiques, February 2009, p.55, illustrated p.53, fig.2
M. Newcome Schleier and G. Grasso, Giovanni David: Pittore e incisore della famiglia Durazzo, Turin 2003, p.52, no. D20;
A. Lafont, ‘Genova alle origini del romanticismo francese: Girodet e Gros in Italia’, in Piero Boccardo, Clario Di Fabio and Philippe Sénéchal, ed., Genova e l’Europa: Opere, artisti, committenti, collezionisti, Cinisello, Balsamo 2003, p.251, fig.11;
C. S. Ackley, ‘Master drawings from the collection of Horace Wood Brock’, The Magazine Antiques, February 2009, p.55, illustrated p.53, fig.2
Condition
Hinged to mount at upper margin. Overall in good condition. There are a few small nicks and tears around the edges of the sheet, one at the lower margin near the right corner. and a few small ones at the upper margin.Some minor abrasions around the edges of the blue border. Medium remains strong and vibrant.
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
"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. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."
Catalogue Note
Giovanni David was supported throughout his career by the Genoese diplomat Giacomo Durazzo, in exchange for privileged access to his work. His patron's broad interests enabled David to travel extensively, to England, Holland and France, and also to work in a wide variety of media: not just drawings, but prints, stage designs, wax sculptures and paintings in oil and fresco. Durazzo also ensured that David studied in the early 1770s under Domenico Corvi in Rome, where he went on to receive a prize in painting at the Accademia di San Luca in 1775.1 The present drawing depicts the entrance to Hades, the underworld. Death is represented by the skeleton to the left of the composition, who holds the brazier from which the bare-chested woman lights her torch. The nightmare intensifies as a winged demon hovers over the central female figure, holding thunderbolts and snakes in his hands. To the upper left sits King Minos, judge of the dead, who is accompanied by the three-headed dog Cerberus. To the right of the composition are the three fates, who in turn all handle the thread of human life.
This is an imaginative and ambitious composition demonstrating David's immense creative powers. Stylistically, it can be compared to another highly finished drawing, An allegorical scene, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which also includes the skeletal figure of death and the three fates.2
1. M. Newcome, 'Drawings by Giovanni David' in Master Drawings, 1993, vol. 31, no. 4, p. 469
2. Inv. no. 1978-62-2; Newcome, op.cit., fig. 4
This is an imaginative and ambitious composition demonstrating David's immense creative powers. Stylistically, it can be compared to another highly finished drawing, An allegorical scene, in the Philadelphia Museum of Art, which also includes the skeletal figure of death and the three fates.2
1. M. Newcome, 'Drawings by Giovanni David' in Master Drawings, 1993, vol. 31, no. 4, p. 469
2. Inv. no. 1978-62-2; Newcome, op.cit., fig. 4