- 14
Giulio Pippi, called Giulio Romano Rome 1499? - 1546 Mantua
Description
- Giulio Pippi, called Giulio Romano
- putti playing with vines and a cornucopia, a sphinx above an arch to the right
- bears initials in brown ink, upper left: J-R, and numbering (measurements): G 5 Con 5; 2 Con 4
- pen and brown ink and wash over black chalk, squared for transfer in black chalk; made up underneath arch
Provenance
Catalogue Note
Frederick Hartt noted that this sheet is contemporary with the Sala dei Cavalli and the Sala di Psiche, Palazzo Te, Mantua, on which Giulio worked between 1527 and 1529 (see Hartt, op.cit., p.226). He compared it with two similar studies for friezes, one in the Scherer Collection, Zürich, the other in the Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth (see Hartt, op.cit., cat. no. 218, fig. 353, and cat. no. 316). Hartt also mentions a design for a fireplace, which bears similar notations of measurements as the present lot (see Hartt, op.cit., p. 306, cat. no. 314, fig. 485).
However, since the publication of Hartt's monograph, a drawing has come to light which appears to be the pendant to this lot. That work, formerly in the collection of the late Prof. Dr Richard Krautheimer and Dr. Trude Krautheimer (sold New York, Christie's, 10 January 1996, lot 2) is virtually the same composition, but in reverse. Three putti, in similar positions, frolic around a cornucopia which describes the shape of an arch to the lower left, and a fourth putto, in the upper right corner, flies towards them bearing a vine branch. Furthermore, although there is no sphinx in the Krautheimer drawing, at the apex of the arch may be seen a solitary clawed right paw, missing from the beast at the top right in our drawing.
Whilst the size of the drawings in combination make it unlikely that they were once on the same sheet, they must have been conceived as a continuous design, rather than alternative versions, for the decoration of an archway or over-door. Giulio's inventive spirit ensured that, even when designing an arch such as this, he would not choose the simpler solution of a symmetrical composition, but would rather explore many possible variations on a theme.