- 44
Ciro Ferri Rome 1633 - 1689
Description
- Ciro Ferri
- the holy family disembarking from a boat
- bears old attribution in brown ink, lower left: Ciro Ferri
pen and brown and black ink and wash over black chalk, squared for transfer in black chalk, within brown ink framing lines
Provenance
The Right Hon. Lord St Helens;
Dr. C.R. Rudolf;
Purchased from Alister Mathews, 1958
Literature
J. M. Mertz, 'Landscape Drawings by Pietro da Cortona', in Metropolitan Museum Journal, no. 39, New York 2004, p. 146, reproduced, fig. 31
Catalogue Note
Jörg Merz has kindly brought to our attention the fact that he published this impressive drawing as Ciro Ferri in a recent article on the landscape drawings of Pietro da Cortona (see Literature). After discussing (and in many cases rejecting) various previous attributions to Ferri, Merz refers to our drawing as 'a point of departure in reconstructing his oeuvre as a landscapist'. He also noted that the attribution dates back at least to the late 18th Century, when Conrad Metz made an aquatint, in reverse, after the drawing, which was then in the collection of Lord St Helens. Merz notes that, as in other landscapes by Ferri, the handling in the background trees is comparable with foliage in drawings by Cortona (such as the Landscape with dancing nymphs, Paris, Louvre), and that the figures 'conform perfectly to Ferri's style'.
Please note that this drawing is sold framed.