Luigi Sabatelli

Sale, London, Sotheby's, 8 July 2021, lot 122

This very handsome, large, finished study by the Florentine painter and etcher Luigi Sabatelli, with its elaborate composition and mixed technique on prepared paper, is testimony to Sabatelli's talent as a draughtsman.

Though trained in Florence, Sabatelli was in Rome from 1789 until 1794, a sojourn that must have broadened his experience, especially through his exposure there to the works of Raphael.  After returning to Florence, he moved on in 1808 to Milan, to take up the post of professor of painting at the Accademia di Brera, which he would hold for the next forty years. 

Some aspects of this sheet are reminiscent of the art of the Carracci, and also of Pietro da Cortona, while at the same time the dexterity in the use of the pen can be seen as a reflection of the Sabatelli's talent as an engraver.  The drawing must date from after his Roman period.