Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries
Master Works on Paper from Five Centuries
Italian Drawings from a Private Collection, USA
Giovanni Battista Gaulli, called Baciccio
An allegory of the Church
Auction Closed
January 31, 05:59 PM GMT
Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 USD
Lot Details
Description
Giovanni Battista Gaulli, called Baciccio
Genoa 1639 - 1709 Rome
An allegory of the Church
Pen and brown ink and gray wash over black chalk, on a fragment of a map of the area around Grosseto;
inscribed in brown ink: PATRINIO
bears old attribution in brown ink, lower left: C. Maratta and numbering, lower right: 83
235 by 185 mm; 9 ¼ by 7 ¼ in.
This unpublished sheet by Gaulli, with its traditional attribution to Maratta, is of great interest in the study of the dissemination of the image in the Roman Baroque. In his career as a painter, Gaulli contributed greatly to the illustration of texts, designing frontispieces for printed works, produced for illustrious clients such as Camillo Gerolamo Pamphili and Pietro Ottoboni.1It is no accident that this drawing is on part of an engraved map; it was probably made in connection with a project for a map of the area in question, and perhaps relates to a dedication to be added to a cartouche. Gaulli's rather essential style in this drawing can be explained by the likelihood that it was made to serve as a guide for an engraver. Another, similar sheet is in Berlin.2
1. For further information on Gaulli the illustrator, see Baciccio, exh. cat., Ariccia, Palazzo Chigi, 1999-2000, pp. 311-322
2. Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, inv. KdZ 20997; see Römische Barockzeichnungen, exh. cat., Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, 1969, cat. 82, pl. 43
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