Property from the Collection of Charles Ryskamp sold for the Primary Benefit of Princeton University

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Lot 122
  • 122

Attributed to Giovanna Garzoni

Estimate
3,000 - 5,000 USD
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Description

  • Giovanna Garzoni
  • Lemon, Citrus limon (L.) Burm. f.: two twin -fingered lemons and two transverse sections of a third
  • Bears number 620 in pen and brown ink, center right
  • Watercolor and bodycolor heightened with lead white, over black chalk, on vellum

Provenance

Cassiano dal Pozzo
By descent to his brother, Carlo Antonio dal Pozzo
By descent to his son, Gabriele dal Pozzo 
By descent to his son, Cosimo Antonio dal Pozzo
By whom sold in 1703 to Pope Clement XI
Thence by descent to Cardinal Alessandro Albani
From whom acquired in 1762 by James Adam for King George III
Thereafter, Royal Library, Windsor Castle, until after the first World War, when several albums of dal Pozzo drawings were sold 
Jacob Mendelson, London
Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London
Niall Hobhouse, Ltd., London (as Italian artist, circa 1630)
Acquired from the above, 1987

Exhibited

Morgan 2001, no. 10

Literature

D. Freedberg and Enrico Baldini, series editor, Series B: Natural History. Part One: Citrus Fruit, The Paper Museum of Cassiano dal Pozzo,1997, p. 251, no. 98, reproduced

Condition

Window mounted, some slight oxidization in white with some light staining on the vellum, especially towards the left. Minor abrasions towards the bottom, ink in numbering faded, but condition otherwise good.
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

Hybrid and misshapen fruits were of particular interest in the world of Cassiano. In this drawing, not reproduced in the Hesperides,1 three twin lemons with finger-shaped appendages are represented. These belong to a sizable group of such fruits recorded in the Museum Chartaceum. As David Freedberg points out, the importance of Cassiano' s natural history drawings cannot be overestimated. They were the earliest illustrations ever produced with the aid of a microscope and the first and most ambitious attempt to clarify the natural world through a visual description, made at the same time as other scientific investigations in astronomy, mathematics and physics. The pursuit of comprehensiveness and accuracy surpassed previous attempts, such as those of Aldovrandi or Gesner, eliminating what was not scientific and the result of imagination. About three thousand natural history drawings survive from Cassiano's Museum Chartaceum, the majority being in the Royal Library at Windsor Castle.2

The attribution to Giovanna Garzoni was proposed by Charles Ryskamp.

See also lot 24.

 

1. Cassiano had been gathering material, both written and visual, about citrus fruits from all over Italy, and this he made available to Giovanni Battista Ferrari for his compendium of citrological treatises the Hesperides,  published after many vicissitudes in 1646.  
2. For an account of the whereabouts of the drawings, see D. Freedberg and Enrico Baldini, op. cit., 1997, p. 35